The Long Run
by the kid that could
Summary: After an unfortunate event,Jon Williams receives a series of children on his doorstep. Cliche,but it happens. Now almost grown up,they strive to find out who they really are through S.H.I.E.L.D. R/R,movieverse,takes place few years 10-15 after the movie.
1. In Which The Characters Are Introduced

**Alright,guys. This was the story I was talking about. I wasn't being serious about the plot thing until yesterday,when my glourious friend/beta came up with Chapter 1 and the most of the characters in under an hour during a free period. **

**Ah,the joys of being a genius. Anyways,enjoy! R&R~**

_ The estate had been empty for at least a week now. Her antics were gone. Her priceless laughs were gone. Her cooking. Her face. Her body. And most of all, his meaning. The two had been together for at least ten-odd years. Known each other for so, so much longer. All of that was gone now._

_And now Jon was left to sit on his couch on this rainy day, unable to get up, unable to keep his sobs in control when the mere thought came up. _

She wouldn't come back this time.

_Anastasia was her name. Anastasia Kepski. She was a beautiful woman; She was made for Jon Williams. She had taken his last name in stride, after the two had been dating for quite a while. Seven years to be exact. _

_She was his light. _

_The day she had left him for good was a sunny day, and Jon had despised it. How could a funeral be this lively? How could people think about the weather when his beautiful wife was being shoved six feet under the ground in a tomb? _

_Tears washed down Jon's cheeks, and he wiped them away quickly. His life officially had no meaning. Getting up, the poor boy walked out of his living room with difficulty and entered the kitchen. His intention being to try to eat real food. Not ramen. Not this time._

_Until the doorbell rang. _

_His head perked up, and he sighed, dark eyes full of curiosity. It was probably a bouquet of flowers with the usual condolences. With quiet footsteps, he padded down to the front door, expecting just that. _

_But when he opened it, his face twisted into that of confusion and disbelief, and he slammed the door closed, unable to comprehend. _

A fucking baby on his doorstep. Wrapped up in a blanket, placed in a car carrier.

No.

No. Fucking. Way.

_He opened it again in time to notice the man in a black suit get into his car, and speed away, leaving Jon with questions. Lots of questions. _

_Upon looking down at his doorstep again, he noticed a box, unmarked. It was taped, and Jon knew that was to keep someone out. Or keep someone from getting in, but that Jon being irrational. _

_He thought about this. _

A baby on my doorstep. I don't know. Is it a boy or a girl?

What would Anastasia want me to do…

_He teared up slightly, knowing the answer. Taking a deep breath, Jon picked up the car carrier quickly, coming back for the box later. _

_He needed to do it quick, just in case he changed his mind sooner or later. _

_But we all know that's not going to happen._

That kid is now sitting in front of a television, playing Xbox and cursing sporatically, sixteen years old. In the box sixteen years ago there was a note, along with supplies to care for the baby such as formula and diapers to get started. The note had told of the baby's name and age.

He was three months old when Jon had received him- and his name was Dwayne Ulthor. No last name. Just that.

Sixteen years old and growing, Dwayne was a god. But not literally- physically. Or at least Jon had heard some girls going off about it at the pharmacy the other day.

With short, choppy blonde hair, tan skin, and muscles, it was hard to say he wasn't good looking.

Dwayne played video games as Lauren and Rex sat in the dining room, studying, drawing, reading. The two laughed hysterically about something, and continued on with their activities, suppressing laughter but failing miserably.

"_Listen, man, I need you to just calm down, alright?" The dark haired man said, wanting to slap Jon for reacting hysterically. _

"_Are you kidding me! I can't do this again! Do you know how hard the first one was?" Jon tilted his head, glaring at the well-dressed man in front of him, who was carrying another car carrier, with yet _another _baby. It was a girl this time. Jon was told her name was Lauren Noel. Again, no last name._

_The other was quiet for a moment, adjusting his grip on the car carrier. "What if I paid you?"_

_Jon was quiet, huffing through his nose and waiting for the man to continue. He was well-known. _Very _well-known. Sunglasses did nothing to hide his identity today. "How much?"_

_A considerable amount was proposed for each month, and Jon accepted immediately, without protest. He almost felt guilty. _

_Almost._

_Rex Leroy came shortly after._

In the kitchen, the twins were going back and forth, back and forth over something ridiculous, as usual. They were starting to get more and feisty every day. Or at least Cynthia was. Jon hoped to God these two were the last of the doorstep babies.

"It's mine!" Cynthia roared.

"I saw it first!" Delano countered loudly. When Delano got loud, you knew something was wrong. The twin girls were fighting stupidly over the last slice of pizza that was ordered the night before.

"Stop being a butt-head and let your elder have it!"

"Since when are you the elder!"

"Since I said so, idiot!"

Delano punched Cynthia in the gut, and Cynthia took it in stride, pulling Delano's other arm and tossing her to the ground. Delano caught Cynthia's ankle and pulled her down to the ground with her.

"Mother-!" Delano growled, feeling her stomach being turned into tenderized meat by Cynthia.

"Girls!" Jon called, walking into the kitchen and crossing his arms, sighing.

Cynthia and Delano immediately got their shit together, scrambling to get back up and pretend as if nothing happened before hand. Delano slyly snatched the slice out of Cynthia's hand and took a bite,smirking proudly.

"Are you two done?"

Cynthia nodded, and Delano continued eating, leaving to go to watch Dwayne play Xbox.

When Cynthia was by herself, she sighed, pale eyes searching the fridge for something else to eat. "Well, this sucks."

Jon chuckled, reaching past her into the freezer and plucking out the quart of ice cream he had gotten for himself the other, giving it to Cynthia. With a smile, he got her a spoon, too.

"I can't take this, though…This is yours. You got it for yourself." Cynthia looked down at the lid. Strawberry Ice Cream. Nice.

"I know, but I know you wouldn't want anything else." Jon shrugged, scratching his head. Cynthia smiled, trapping the other in a strong bear hug and then running off, to watch Dwayne play video games as well.

For that split-second, Jon couldn't breathe.

**Alright,quick review.**

**Dwayne Ulthor/M/16 **

**Lauren Noel/F/15**

**Rex Leroy/M/15**

**Cynthia Howard/F/14 TWIN**

**Delano Clein/F/14 TWIN**

**Jon Williams/M/43**

**Anastasia Williams/F/DECEASED**

**R&R! Thanks! **


	2. In Which Dwayne Is Punched In The Face

**SECOND CHAPTER LET'S DO DIS!**

Jon sat in bed, his forehead beaded with sweat. He was propped up, watching the television from the other side of the room. His dark eyes were fixed on it, but not really watching. He was thinking again. About her. Memories played through his mind like reels of film, vividly. He missed Anastasia.

But now that he had the kids…They brought a new meaning into his life. Anastasia had left with his light, and the doorstep kids brought it back, shamelessly. Each day, a new memory burrowed into his head.

And Jon, the sentimental man he is, was quite fond of them.

He had sent the kids off to run errands downtown, because frankly, he had no intention of leaving the bed. Their list had consisted of small things, food, some necessary things, and some fun things. He had figured maybe later they could play some ball. Whether it was going to be baseball or soccer, he let them decide.

_**downtown.**_

"Dwayne, Dwayne! Hey, Dwayne!" Cynthia chirped, practically jogging to keep up with his pace.

"What?" Dwayne had replied dryly, glancing at her with a raised eyebrow.

"We have to get some candy, right? It's on the list! You should get me some!"

"No way! Get your own!" He said, rounding a corner. Of course, Dwayne wasn't always harsh. A while ago, he had spotted a candy store called '_The Chocolate Bar_', and he distinctly remembered thinking, '_Hey, the twins would like this. Too bad they're broke._' .

Delano simply trailed behind her twin, rolling her eyes, while Lauren and Rex stayed a few feet behind the group.

And behind the secondary group of Lauren and Rex, was a group of troublemakers. Three to be exact.

But the secondary group didn't have to know that, did they?

Dwayne, Cynthia, and Delano had stopped, entering the candy store without Lauren and Rex, who opted to just stand outside.

Privacy was always, always scarce.

After a moment of conversing about how summer was going, the weather, and shoes, the hoodlums had finally caught up with them. The three of them were a diverse looking group, Lauren noticed as they slinked up to the two.

"Nice hair, queer," One of them sneered, obviously talking about Rex's hair. Rex, unfortunately, had skunk hair, black and white.. He hadn't meant for it to turn out that way, and it wasn't even his fault in the first place! Jon hadn't been supervising!

_Rex stood in front of the bathroom mirror, holding the box of black hair dye. In his other hand, his glasses. Well, the lady on the box seemed to be enjoying it, so why wouldn't he? Wasn't that just logic? He took out the supplies gingerly, sighing and following the directions in order to change his hair color. _

_Ten minutes later, he figured he needed help and asked Delano to help, since she had dyed her hair a dark red, almost maroon, a while ago. But that was an explanation for later. _

_Delano had agreed to help with a gentle smile, and a weird look. That 'look' was the look of mischief._

_Twenty minutes and a shower later, Rex looked into the mirror and almost cried out, slapping his hands over his mouth. The irresistible urge to kill Delano was born, but on second thought…_

_He did look pretty cool. _

Rex glared back, staying silent. Whatever. If this one guy didn't like his hair, it wasn't a problem- "Where's your butt buddy?" Another hoodlum laughed, slapping Rex's chest. "Hey-!" Lauren interjected, furrowing her brows. "For the record, your pants look ridiculous around your ankles!" The third one, who actually had a hood on (imagine that-), ignored the girl slapped the side of Rex's head, really hard. It made a loud noise, that even Dwayne heard it through the window as he looked over, seeing it. Rushing through the doors, he left the twins in the candy store.

"What are you doing here, faggot?" The one with the hood said, looking at Dwayne. Rex clenched his fists, his nose scrunching up as he felt his head throb horribly.

"Oh, go back to your imaginary meth lab." Dwayne countered, and an unfamiliar fist was thrust in Dwayne's face, pushing him to the cement- Lauren gasped, and crouched down to help Dwayne, glancing between he and Rex multiple times.

Rex's head picked up, and his fingernails dug into his palms, almost drawing blood, adrenaline rushed through his veins, but it wasn't adrenaline- he could feel it. Heat pricked his eyes, his breathing became rapid, and his hands started turning a pale green, the color of mold.

With one look, the troublemakers ran off, and Rex lost it.

_**the estate.**_

Rex opened his eyes, his face bare of his glasses. He sniffed, and lifted his head. Too much effort. He looked to left, his vision severely blurred. He then looked to the right, jumping when he saw a figure sitting on his bed, on the edge.

"How are you feeling?" It asked, the voice clearly belonging to Delano. Or Cynthia. Rex couldn't decide, they both sounded the same… "Can you hear me?"

Realizing he had been staring into space, Rex shook his head, blinking. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Yeah." He yawned, and sat up. He wasn't wearing a shirt…Why? He always went to bed with a shirt… Right? "Hey, um…" He ran a hand through his hair, and reached over to his nightstand, his bony hand patting it down until it ran across the wire frame of his glasses.

"Yeah?"

"What happened?" Rex asked, focusing on the twin on his bed. Yep. Delano.

"Oh, well…I'm not the one to ask. I think I was in the store, remember? Here, drink some water." Delano told Rex, reaching for the glass on his nightstand and handing it to him.

Rex grasped the glass, practically chugging the whole thing down. He breathed through his nose as he drank, savoring the water as it ran down his throat quickly, and then lowering his glass. Delano stared at him for a minute before continuing on.

"But, I do remember that we had to carry you home really fast. And when I saw you, you didn't look like yourself, and those guys that were messing with you were…They were…They were just bleeding out on the sidewalk. Don't you…Don't you remember?" Delano asked, narrowing her eyes and cocking her head.

Rex shook his head in disbelief. _He_ did that? No…There was no way…He couldn't even hurt a fly…Or so he thought. He felt his stomach churn, and he kept his mouth shut.

_No, that can't be true, _Rex thought_, I'll just ask Lauren later! Yeah, that's it…Delano can't be serious…_

Noticing Rex's silence, Delano laid a hand on the other's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"….No. I'm not okay."

_**lauren's room.**_

A dim lamp lit the room, as Lauren sat in her room, hunched over the laptop. Her pupils were little, adjusted to the light of the laptop screen. She was up for investigation, and she had been for the past two or three hours.

Eventually, her search had brought her to gamma radiation, that sort of voodoo and whatnot. Lauren didn't take it in stride, in fact, she was quite skeptical. Skimming over the article, she took notes, picking up terms here and there and a name or two.

_radioactive atoms_

_nuclidides_

_decay_

_Bruce Banner_

Lauren looked down at the list, and sighed. '_No, that's not possible. Gamma rays don't exist…And you can't make bombs with rays that don't really exist...-Do they? …No. No. No. Jon never taught us this…_' She thought, and swallowed. The fifteen-year old was done with research for the night.

Little did she know that Cynthia wasn't.

_**the master bedroom.**_

Jon was silent, sitting up and making notes on a notepad he kept by his bed. He had heard about Rex's incident.

And he was mortified. Not just mortified, though. Frantic. Suspicious, as well. But he could still think the whole situation out, analyze, maybe- if he tried hard enough.

'_I've heard of something like this happening…The whole thing is similar to the Hulk… He was with the Avengers, no? Yes! Yes! They beat that one guy a few years back…Well, always beating him… What was his name? He had a cool helmet… But Rex had an incident that was just like that one scientist's…That expert on gamma radiation or whatever…Bruce! Bruce Banner, that's it!_'

Dwayne walked in quietly, the door creaking and interrupting Jon and his thoughts. He held a bowl that was steaming in one hand and a glass of juice in the other, walking forward. "Here's your soup_, Dad_." He said, setting it on the nightstand. He handed the glass to Jon directly, and studied his face. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing-" Jon replied hastily and took a shaky breath in between words.

"Liar."

"Remember who you're speaking to, Dwayne."

Dwayne pouted, rolling his eyes. "Why are you being so quiet about this whole thing with Rex, though?"

"I…Because, Dwayne, I don't know what to say!" Jon admitted, his hands shaking as he picked up the bowl that practically burned his hands. Nodding, Dwayne turned, walking towards the door.

He would try again tomorrow.

_**the kitchen.**_

Rex had sneaked downstairs at one point in the night, tip-toeing down the stairs. Now, he was searching through the fridge, just for a little snack.

Strawberries? _No._

Leftover mac 'n cheese? _No._

Chocolate milk? _No._

"Hey," He had been caught, by none other than Delano. "What are you doing?" She asked, creeping up next to him, the fridge light shining against the side of her face. Rex could tell she wasn't wearing the color contacts, and pale blue eyes stared back at dark browns.

"I was going to get a snack, but I guess not now."

"How about…" Delano trailed off, swallowing. Rex could tell she was thinking as she stared intensely into the fridge light. "How about you go play some Xbox while I…make some tea, or something?" She smiled softly, looking up at Rex.

"Alright…I'll just…I'll go do that." Rex smiled back, ruffling the other's hair as he left the kitchen- almost.

Delano had caught him by the waist in a hug that nearly cut off his breathing, and after a few seconds, she let him go.

"Love you."

**Well,you guys,chapter two! Now you kind of know who some people look like. **

**Rex hulked out, woo! Ah, if you're wondering where Cynthia was the whole time, she passed out for the night due to a sugar rush from all the candy she bought at **_**The Chocolate Bar**_**. So…**

**R/R FOR A FREE COOKIE~!**

**P.S. The next chapter focuses more on the twins~!**


	3. In Which A Bat Is Broken

**THIRD CHAPTER.**

**I gotta good feeling about this, you guys~! Review!**

Downtown, before Rex's incident, the kids had chosen baseball to play. Unfortunately, Jon had only given them enough money to get just a few gloves, a ball, and a wooden bat. Not that wooden bats weren't cool, but an aluminum bat might have worked just a little better. Maybe.

In the backyard, the kids had taken position, Jon was the pitcher, and Delano was at bat, Cynthia being next. Rex had third, Lauren took second, and Dwayne had called first beforehand, claiming 'first deserves first'.

Well, first also deserved a smack to the back of the head.

Delano picked up the bat, taking position. Knees slightly ` bent, elbows up, Jon had told her on her way to the plate from the outfield.

"Are you serious? Why am I not up there? Delano can't even…!" Dwayne shouted, making sure everyone heard him. Sure, Dwayne wasn't serious most of the time, but when it came to any type of sports, or competition…He was as cold as ice.

Delano furrowed her brows, and narrowed her eyes, and nodded at Jon. "Overhand," She mouthed at him.

Jon nodded back, and smiled softly, knowing that Delano didn't want the ball underhand.

"You got this, Dee!" Cynthia screeched, clapping. Lauren and Rex were quiet on their bases, Dwayne mumbling under his breath about how he could take on the world by himself.

The ball sailed through the air, and Delano kept her eyes on it, waiting for the very moment she would hit it straight in its sweet spot. Time passed slowly, almost taking hours- but in all actuality, the ball came in seconds, Delano hitting it particularly hard. A loud crack sounded in the air, and Delano closed her eyes.

Silence.

She opened her eyes again, and saw that she was only holding the bottom half of the bat, the other half on the soft grass. The wood was splintered, so Delano dropped it like it was carrying a fatal disease and started running to first base. No one cheered- who would, some little girl just broke a bat in two, and launched the ball way across the fence, probably in some poor old lady's window!

"You idiot!" The angry cry came from Dwayne, who let out a frustrated huff at the other, striding forward. "How are we supposed to play now when you totally ruined the equipment!" He asked, not taking in account the fact that Delano- as little as she was, it didn't seem that possible that she had that much strength- had just quite literally broken the bat in two, as if it were a flimsy little stick.

Delano stopped dead in her tracks, the sunlight making her hair look even redder than it already was. That was the hair dye, of course. Being Cynthia's twin, she had the dirty blonde hair and pale blue eyes as well. And then, Delano realized she wanted to do something different, instead of everyone just confusing her for her idiot sister (who wasn't really an idiot, quite the opposite, really- she was her sister, what else could she call her?). She bought the hair dye, and acquired the contact lenses that painted her pale irises green online. And now, she was happy, with no one confusing her for her sister. Plus, she had more independence and confidence with the whole "makeover" thing.

"U-Uh! Dwayne ,I didn't mean to-"

"Whatever! You won't mean it when you regret it!"

"I swear to-" Delano muttered ,a little teary eyed and feeling like a trapped animal. Being the typical anti-social awkward teenager of the family, she wasn't used to altercations like this, especially with her own family.

"I swear to god, I'll beat you-" Dwayne's fist came particularly close to Delano's pretty face, until Cynthia was there in a heartbeat, catching his fist and glaring into the windows to his soul.

"Touch her, and I'll kill you." Cynthia threatened. She knew how Dwayne could get with sports- very competitive, very rough, very…sensitive about his equipment and the equipment for the game. He only cared about the score as far she knew.

Over on the other side of the backyard, Rex had taken a few steps over to stand next to Lauren, not at all fazed by the idea of Dwayne and Cynthia arguing. It wasn't something new. She just didn't get along well with others. Lauren, on the other hand, was the nice one. Probably the nicest out of all of them. "The girl next door," you could say. When she met a new person, she was a pleasant, lovely person, well mannered, and smart.. The only exception being the hoodlums.

"So, what do you think of this whole thing going on?" Rex asked, tapping his foot on Lauren's and looking down.  
"What? About them," Lauren gestured to Dwayne, Cynthia, and Delano. "Or you?"

Rex huffed, nodding at the dysfunctional part of the family by first base. "Them. Duh."

The two looked on, Jon walking over to them as well as the three by first base got even more riled up. Lauren raised an eyebrow, a little confused. Rex noticed Lauren's hair looked darker than ever- her natural color being a dark drown while the tips of her hair were dyed a nice blue. Or at least Rex thought they were nice. Not only that, but she also noticed her olive skin complimented her hair. Or,rather,the other way around.

"Should we do something?" Jon asked, smirking.

Lauren and Rex laughed loudly (but nervously) in response, still looking onto the others.

Dwayne scoffed. "Please, as if you can even touch me- Delano, go pick the bat." He nodded over to the area where the scattered pieces of the bat were.

"Delano, don't you dare! And you," Cynthia quickly pulled Dwayne's collar down so they were at eye-level- which was only a few inches off, despite her being only fourteen. "Don't tell my sister what to do. Only I can do that."

Delano, on the other hand, was feeling very confused, and was on the verge of crying (still) because of how much she hated when people fought. "You guys, just stop, it's not a big deal!" She said, waving her hands around as if that would stop it.

Dwayne and Cynthia glared each other down until Dwayne made the first move, trying to use his other fist to catch Cynthia in the ribs. Cynthia caught it, twisting that fist, along with the other. Dwayne kicked her in the shins, and she cried out, feeling the stinging pain shoot through that area.

'_Oh, so he's playing that way? I can play, too.' _ Cynthia thought, feeling the excitement pump through her. Sure, her hands were shaking, and her legs were trembling, but she didn't care. She wanted Dwayne to be dealt with, because frankly, she didn't like bullies.

No matter where they came from, even if it was her brother.

She hopped on her other leg for a second, grasping Dwayne's arms and pulling him towards her- only to spin and push him to the ground, and climb on top of him to pin him down.

"Get off, shrimp! Seriously, you can stop, now!" Dwayne complained loudly, swatting at Cynthia as if she was just a tiny fly. It looked like she was biting off more than she could chew, but if anything, Dwayne was a fly himself.

"Don't tell my sister what to do, or this won't happen, Dwayne!"

_**family meeting.**_

Cynthia pouted at one end of the table, her plate untouched as of late. Dwayne did the same, glaring at Delano. Delano looked downwards, twiddling her thumbs while Lauren glared at Dwayne. Rex simply rested his head in his hand and stared ahead at a picture on the wall of Jon and his wife, relieved that most of the attention wasn't on him right now because of his incedent.

Jon never really talked about her all that much, but Rex could tell he thought about her often.

"What you two did today was very disappointing. It's happening way too often now, and the family does not appreciate it. Nor do they find it funny." Jon started, glancing at Rex and Lauren to suppress their snickers, and memories of Jon's joke earlier.

"What the family should be focusing on is the fact that amazing, yet…strange things are happening-" "Yeah, because this family is made of gumdrops and unicorns and we take turns farting faerie dust in this household." Dwayne interrupted, earning a burning glare from pretty much everyone.

Jon sighed, but figured he would continue anyways. "You realize you all have the potential to do marvelous things, don't you? Rex," Rex picked up his head and looked over at Jon, eyes pleading that he wouldn't say something about the incident.

But he did. "Rex, you get all big and green when you get angry. That's amazing, and I have no idea what to call it. But…Does anyone have ideas?"

Rex looked at everyone, and shrugged. "I mean, I never really had ideas, and I don't really want to do that…Ever…"

Jon smiled, and nodded. "Let's call it a _hulk_."

The room was silent- but not the intensely uncomfortable silence. The agreeable silence.

He went on talking- "And Delano, princess, what you did today was amazing, too! You have to understand that you have talent! And I'm sure if you have it, your sister sure as hell has those genes, too."

Cynthia looked up from shoveling food in her face and smiled, swallowing, while Delano blushed, and avoided eye contact with everyone.

"So you're saying that Rex can turn into a cool green monster and we have super strength?" The blonde asked, eyes gleaming.

"Yep." Jon smiled back, finishing off his mashed potatoes. That only left Lauren and Dwayne…

Lauren was always a smart girl, especially with science and engineering, that kind of thing. Dwayne was… Sporty. Good-looking. Blonde. Tan. Many other adjectives a teenage girl could rattle off the top of her head just by seeing him.

One question came to Lauren's mind as she chewed the last of her green beans,and she glanced around the table.

'_So some of us have…abilities…and some of us don't. That's okay right? I mean…Yeah…But…' _She swallowed the vegetable, savoring it for the split second it was actually on her tongue.

"Who's next?" Lauren asked, to no one in particularly.

**Alright,you guys. End of chapter 3~! I know some of you guys are reading,so I'm glas that I can keep updating for you! But I need some reviews,people, c'mon! I need to know what you guys think~!**

**Review! 3 -Katey**


	4. In Which Nick Fury Arrives

**I'm going to DC this weekend, so I was trying to cram this chapter in. Apologies if it really sucks. Review. Oh, and some Nick Fury for ya! ;) Sorry it took so long.**

A few days after the family meeting at the dinner table, they had all proceeded to go to their rooms. Dwayne went to his room, still angry about being scolded for the whole thing with Delano, and the annoying little prick of a twin she had. Damn these twins and their weird connections…

Jon went to the master bedroom; Feeling very satisfied (and tired) that he had made at least a few people happy tonight, and went straight to bed.

Rex went to his room, tired of feeling overwhelmed, yet relieved to know that some of the attention he had before he now shared with Delano and Cynthia. He was officially in the clear for doing what he wanted, and not being monitored in case he got angry again. That was what he hated the most. It's not like he had anger issues or anything- he would rather like to call the issue with the big green thing more of a personality disorder, or…Okay, so maybe it was anger issues, but that wasn't the point! Rex was always more of a laid-back guy anyways, and he only got angry when he felt the need to, which honestly wasn't that often.

The twins went to their room, feeling very proud and on top of the world of their supposed strength. As if they could lift it- Or at least, Cynthia felt like she could. Then Delano told her not to get a big head. That was when Cynthia said she already had one, and the two laughed tiredly; ready to change into their pajamas.

Lauren headed to her room, ready for an all-nighter. More research tonight and she was ready. She had taken the laptop, the charger, and a Monster from the fridge, popping it open as her fuel for the night. The gleam in her eyes told the whole tale- the _'I'm going to find out what the hell is up with my family even if it kills me' _look was present.

_**many, many, many hours later.**_

Lauren sat up, stomach growling, hair messed up. It was almost like bed-head, but she had been awake for a fairly long time, just dicking around on the computer.

That is, until she came across a website for something weird called, _'S.H.I.E.L.D.'_

Lauren, being the curious little fellow she is, decided to want to know a bit more about it- so she went to Google.

And that lead to some bad decisions, passing through some firewalls, some backup firewalls, and then some. Of course, in the course of all this half-asleep hacking, she couldn't but think the whole time, _'What am I doing?'_ Lauren had no idea. She didn't know she was hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, let alone any database, anyways. She thought it was just a really fun game.

What? It's four in the morning, and Lauren is not herself right now.

And then there was a loud rapping at the door, and another loud noise, followed by the sound of a door coming off its hinges- Lauren jumped, falling off the bed and onto the hardwood floor. She sucked it up, closing all the windows of the computer and shutting it quickly. There was an intruder in the house, and they needed to be taken care of.

Tip-toeing, she grabbed the metal picture frame from her nightstand and held it close to her chest, standing outside her door, breathing heavily. Her heart thundered in her chest, genuinely afraid of what was to come, and the voices she could hear on the stairs.

'_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, shit, oh my god, holy balls-'Lauren_ thought, her breaths turning faster and faster with her heart rate. She literally thought she was going to pass out.

"Sir, this is the location, right?" The worker asked hesitantly, doubting his own question and almost knowing the answer. His boss could be kind of a jerk sometimes. He stopped stomping up the stairs for a moment and turned to face Mr. Fury, who looked at the employee with an expression that could only say, _'No shit, Sherlock.'_

"Of course it is; do you think I brought you here for my health?"

"Well, you do have an eye patch-"

"Shut up." Nick glared, stomping up the stairs past the newbie.

Lauren, still hyperventilating almost silently in her room, heard the entire conversation and felt herself feeling light-headed. She leaned against the door to her room, and tried not to think about her apparent imminent death.

Outside a certain door, Nick heard gentle breaths, and lightly tapped on it before busting in and nearly knocking Lauren over. Instead, she staggered, her back hitting her nightstand, and froze.

_A man. _

_With an eyepatch. _

_In my room. _

_With a gun. _

_With another guy,who is just weird and behind him and glancing around like he owns the place and he really doesn'tohmygod-_

And that was the moment Lauren decided to choke out a noise crossed between a scream and sob and stand there, utterly terrified and wishing to die at that moment because she had no idea what was happening. She couldn't understand why no one had heard any of this yet, and no one had helped her.

"Hey!" Nick snapped, staring on the girl, and wanting to laugh. "Calm down! You could at least tell me your name before you go unconscious!"

Lauren was silent, and she waited a minute before speaking. "I-I'm…I'm Lauren…Lauren Noel…" She took a deep breath, desperate to try and compose herself around the eye patch guy.

"I'm Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I regret to inform you that you're under arrest…" Nick trailed off, forgetting her name. Yeah, he was old, but he didn't forget names that easy… "I apologize, what exactly is your name again?"

Lauren sighed, trembling. "Lauren Noel."

Nick was quiet, thinking, recalling- He recalled that a certain Anthony Stark and Steve Rogers had talked about someone named Lauren…A long time ago…A week ago… Nick couldn't remember. But he could also remember that the mentioning of 'donor', 'genes', and 'twins' had also been in the conversation.

He deduced, more like inferred without evidence, that this was the Lauren they were talking about.

"And you have siblings, I'm guessing?" Nick asked quickly, gazing back at his buddy he brought with him.

Lauren nodded, a little freaked out. What was behind that eye patch anyways? Was it another eye with a pentagram like she had seen in this one anime, or a regular eye? Oh, oh! Or it just his eye socket, clawed out and looking disgusting and gory and bleh-

Nick turned, to have a mini-conference with his buddy, and leaned forward to mumble something quietly. The worker nodded, walking out and putting his own pistol back in its holster. The exchange was over in a blink, and Lauren still stood there, alone with Mr. Fury.

"I take that back- you're not under arrest. Not anymore. I won't press charges for you hacking into the database, on one condition." Nick proposed, folding his hands behind his back and pacing around the room.

"Yes?"  
"Tell me about the rest of your family." Nick told Lauren, staring her down, searching her face in case she lied about something. You couldn't trust teenagers these days.

"Um, okay…" Lauren was a little confused at the sudden change in mood, blinking, and sighing. There was a lot to tell about her crazy, part dysfunctional, part super human family. "I have twin sisters- not by blood, but…Anyways. I have two other brothers, Rex and Dwayne. Their full names are- Rex Leroy and Dwayne Ulthor. The twin's names are…. Cynthia Howard and Delano Clein." She explained, talking about her family to a complete stranger against her will. "Funny you ask, because the other day, Rex got really angry and decided to just turn into this huge green monster thing. It was cool for two seconds before he actually managed to almost kill some people…" Lauren shook her head, looking down. It was difficult to talk about it without remembering it vividly.

Nick tilted his head, mouth open slightly. There was no way there was another Hulk in this family. Unless…Unless…Oh. _Oh. _He was quiet, because it looked Lauren was going to tell more.

And she did. "And today, we were playing baseball, and Delano broke a freaking bat in two. She's fourteen. _Fourteen_. And then, Cynthia beat the crap out of Dwayne, who's sixteen… And…The twins are such a mess. Apparently, they have super strength or whatever…" Realizing she was rambling, Lauren went quiet suddenly, along with Nick, who looked shocked.

"You're telling me that part of your family is superhuman?"

"Uh…Apparently. Yeah, I guess." Lauren mumbled, looking around her own room and trying not to make eye contact with Nick.

Nick nodded, and looked up, sighing. "So it seems we have a situation, here. Your family has to come to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters."


	5. In Which The Kids Are Briefed

**Yo~ Now that we have one of the canon characters in, let's get this thing started, now shall we?**

**Oh,yeah,I don't own the Avengers. Haha. Should've said that the last four chapters… -_-''**

The playboy sighed, his finger trailing over the rim of his glass, which was filled with a familiar amber liquid. He sat on the leather couch while some idle noises came from the kitchen, as a result of Steve just messing around in there. Whether he was cooking, cleaning, finding a bite to eat… Tony didn't know. It wasn't his primary focus at the moment. His gaze was locked upwards, staring intensely at the large plasma screen that displayed the national news of the day.

Apparently some kid in New York had an accident that involved being _very_ green and _very _big and _very_ strong. Figures he and Steve would be in Malibu while something interesting happened near his tower.

Luckily, Tony happened to know someone with great anger issues who did exactly that when the time was right (or just not necessary at all).

"Steve?" The genius called out to the kitchen, leaning forward to catch a glimpse of the blonde moving about in the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"We need to call Bruce."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Come here, and look at this shit," Tony waved him over, grabbing the remote and standing closer to the television as if that would help. The blonde man came in, looking at the television as the images played backwards. And then Tony played the program, at the exact moment the reporter started speaking about the incident.

Steve glanced at Tony, then back at the plasma screen with great interest. "Let's call Bruce." He nodded, and went back to the kitchen.

_**S.H.I.E.L.D HQ.**_

The small room was mostly taken up by the meeting table, which was long, giving the illusion that the room was small. Dwayne, Rex, Lauren, and Delano sat around the table, scattered in the chairs. Delano, however, sat next to Cynthia. The meeting room was drab, the wall painted gray, the carpets being a dark, ashy color. The fact that the room itself was boring did not help Cynthia focus on the matter at hand, or the person speaking- Nick Fury. Not that she didn't want to pay attention, but thanks to Lauren, the family had to be dragged out to the middle of nowhere to this stupid place that no one even knew about to be 'debriefed' on something while Jon stood outside the door.

All in the middle of the night.

The female glanced around subtly, finding the clock behind Nick's head. She thought it was good, so then it would at least look like she was paying attention as she checked the time.

_6:05 am._

'_It is way too early for this…' _Cynthia thought, sighing and dragging a hand down her face. Watching elephants- elephants, for god's sake- masturbate was probably more interesting than that eye patch guy's voice. What was his name? Nick something? Nick Fury? Yeah. Cool name.

"Howard!" Nick said loudly, calling Cynthia by her middle name and making her jump.

"Um, yes, what-"

"Are you paying attention?" The man asked her, tilting his head. How condescending.

Cynthia stared back for a moment, spacing out. Yes, because everyone else was being so attentive. Great. "Yeah. Sorry, I'm a little tired."

Nick shook his head, and sighed. "As I was saying…" His eye landed on everyone at that moment, as if he didn't know what he was about to say. "All of you just so happen to be a group of extraordinary individuals. Starting now, you all work for S.H.I.E.L.D, under my orders-"

"So, we all have jobs now?" Lauren accidentally interrupted, slightly shocked at how bluntly this Fury guy was putting everything. She was sure everyone was overwhelmed, by now.

Nick nodded, clasping his hands together and pacing around the room. "I thought you were the smart one…According to the world outside of S.H.I.E.L.D, no, but yes. You will all be staying here from now on, in the east wing of the headquarters. If anyone has a problem with that, you may take it up with me."

Lauren flushed, but turned her head when Rex spoke up, "No, no, Mr. Fury, that's me. I'm the smart one." Dwayne snorted, arms crossed,"Yes, loser, we all know you're very skilled in the science of Minecraft."

Everyone was silent after that, mulling over the fact that they would be living in a high security facility. But, why exactly? Why would they need the security? Would Jon be with them? What about their personal belongings?

Nick used this as a quick diversion to go out into the hall and speak to Jon Williams.

_**meanwhile, in the hallway.**_

"You realize what they have to do, don't you?" Nick asked the other quietly with a stone-cold expression, expecting only the correct answers from Jon, considering he had been working with S.H.I.E.L.D for more than twenty years now.

Jon shook his head, running a hand through his hair and biting his lip- all of his habits when he got nervous, or tongue-tied. "Yes, yes, I understand! But-but, Nick! They're just kids, they can't pull this off! Aren't they too young? The twins are barely teenagers-"

Nick held up a hand, furrowing his eyebrows. "Jon, that was the point. And I also believe you knew that from the beginning of all of this, did you not?"

Jon was silent, nodding. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew that handing over the kids to S.H.I.E.L.D. would not work out so well. Working for the department contributed slightly, adding to the fact that Jon wouldn't come anywhere close to winning this argument, especially with Fury himself.

"I thought so. I'm not sure if you know this- but dogs are better to be taught tricks while they're younger-"

"Are you comparing my children to dogs?"

"Besides the point," Nick snapped, glaring at Jon. " This team has even more potential than the original Avengers themselves. Of course, they don't have a god on the team, but surely that won't screw shit up for anyone. I'm telling you, the Avengers initiative has been reborn, and you're not the first to know. These kids will be phenomenal. Even, with their parent's genes." The man smirked, leaning against the wall as officers and guards passed by.

Jon felt anger boil up inside of him, and his eyes flickered downwards, his fists clenching. So everyone had known about Fury just gathering up his kids like they were a harvest before him? He kept quiet, waiting for Fury to talk some more to distract him from punching the wall. Or would they take that away from him too?

"You will need to bring by their clothes by tomorrow. That's when they will start training."

_**four hours later; a hall in the east wing of the headquarters.**_

A tour had been given of the headquarters, and Nick held a clipboard. Their rooms had been shown to them. They had previously belonged to the old Avengers, whenever they needed a place to stay, or whenever they were injured and couldn't go back to Stark Tower or any of Tony's mansions or wherever the hell they wanted to go, but couldn't.

The clipboard had a few things scrawled down on it, nothing important, just a few notes that Fury had made here and there.

_dwayne- barton's room_

_lauren- stark's room_

_rex-romanoff's room_

_delano- rogers' room_

_cynthia*- odinson's room_

_banner's room- vacant_

Now the kids were idly standing in the hallway, Delano clinging to Jon by his chin. Oddly enough, the twins were the second tallest of the group, other than Dwayne, who was pretty much taller than Jon himself. The twins came second, up to his chin. They were all tired, having been up since _early thanks to Lauren. _Nick had left to attend to something in the labs, which Rex was thoroughly impressed with along with Lauren.

The hall was quiet, with the occasional banter between Rex and Lauren, and Dwayne just glaring at the floor as if it had insulted his hair.

"I have some news," Jon started, rubbing Delano's back as a signal for her to take a step back, or to give him some space.

"We're leaving!" Cynthia guessed loudly, overly excited for the wrong reasons, "We're going to take a nap soon!" She added, eagerly waiting for an answer.

"You're going to shut up-" Dwayne turned, but Jon laughed, interrupting his insult.

"I don't exactly want to break it to you. But from now on, you'll be staying here… But I won't." Jon told them, looking at wide eyes which were filled with confusion, guilt, and sadness instantly. Delano swore she could've felt her stomach drop. The atmosphere of the room was awkward, and could have easily lifted a blimp with the amount of emotion in the room.

Rex was stuck in a glass case of emotion. Lauren was right with him.

At that moment, Delano felt alone, as if something was missing, and started tearing up.

Cynthia, unsurprisingly, had felt the same way and laid a hand on Delano's shoulder.

Even Dwayne felt something, turning his head to look at the wall and then glancing back at Jon, "So that's it? You just dump us here and leave us with this…With this guy? Jon, we don't even know who these people are, and you expect us to stay here-"

"Shut up, Dwayne. You obviously can't tell that Jon doesn't even wanna do it."

And for once, Dwayne shut up, and that was something monumental.

Jon looked at the floor for a moment, sighing. "Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow, but after that, I'll be staying at home. Don't worry about it, alright?"

It was impossible not to worry.

_**a half hour later; lauren's room.**_

Cynthia had went to Lauren's room, on the account that she had momentarily panicked and just followed her instead of actually going to her room. For some reason, Fury had wanted them in their rooms, no 'ifs, ands, or buts'. Hm. Cynthia figured dinner- or lunch was soon. But in the meantime, she spoke to Lauren.

They had started off talking about Jon, and the fact that they would miss him no matter what, for the longest time. It didn't matter if he was coming back tomorrow…

The conversation had later shifted into the topic of their new employers.

"I don't like this place, man," Cynthia shook her head, laying on the bed with her stomach facing the ceiling, sprawled out. "It's really, really fishy."

"I know," Lauren agreed, nodding. She was also sprawled out across her bed. Geez, it was huge. "And what was their deal with the whole database thing? I didn't seriously mean to… get into it. It just happened." And that was the truth. She stretched her legs, feeling her knee crack with a satisfactory sound. She was met with silence soon after.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what? Stretch my leg? I just put-"

"No,no!" Cynthia laughed, sitting up. "How did you hack into the database?"

Lauren shrugged, putting her hands behind her head. "Because I'm smart, I guess." She chuckled quietly, sitting up as well. She looked around the room, noticing how it had somewhat of a personal touch to it. Like… "Is it just me, or does this room smell like cologne? Or…" She sniffed the air, tilting her head. "Or, maybe…No, it's just me."

Cynthia shook her head, shrugging. "I mean, it kind of smells like alcohol or something to me, but I'm not sure."

"Great, Mr. Fury totally gave me the drunkie room…"

**Well, that's the end of that chapter! Took a while, phew. But things are finally starting to get interesting, and I have so much in store for this story- twists, new characters, LOKIAHEMWHAT.**


	6. In Which Mischief Is Created

**Woo! Chapter 6! LET'S DO THIS!**

**I don't own the Avengers,and stuff. But I do own these OCs!**

_**the east wing training facility.**_

The kids had been woken up early, changed (disappointingly, Jon had brought their clothes when they were asleep), and ate breakfast, almost like their life at home.

Except for the fact that they were actually in a high-security facility and apparently "working" for S.H.I.E.L.D.

They were escorted by a couple of guards (which they were all confused by; they were just kids, why would they need guards to escort them?) to a large room. Again, this room was dull, like the meeting room from yesterday. There was no long table, no chairs—just workout equipment and something that looked like an obstacle course.

The kids were told to wait until Nick Fury arrived. In the meantime, they quietly conversed (complained) with each other.

"I can't believe Jon didn't wake us up," Delano mumbled under her breath, glancing at Cynthia. She nodded, and Cynthia shook her head.

"Well…We can't just assume things…" Lauren tilted her head, noticing what Cynthia said.

"Assume what, Cynthia? What things?"

Dwayne huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "I'm sure she's assuming things about Fury, like the rest of us. We can't lie to each other about this guy—we all think that this whole thing is suspicious."

Rex nodded, with a grunt of approval, along with Lauren and the twins. For once, Dwayne said something totally logical.

"I want Jon back…," Delano managed to get in before Fury entered the room.

He stalked over to them, eye patch (which still freaked Lauren out) and all, his expression stone cold. The atmosphere around them was set to an uncomfortable one—Nick's one eyed glare setting the mood. "This, as you can see, is a training course. Today is the start of a training schedule that has been set up for all of you. Failure to comply with the schedule will result in immediate action," Fury paused, almost as if to somewhat mock them. "So I suggest you don't play hooky."

Everyone was silent, except for Dwayne, who scoffed. "What is this, Ninja Warrior? What is this obstacle thing doing here?"

The comment didn't produce snickers or laughs, only a skeptical look from the director. The uncomfortable atmosphere was made worse, ten-fold.

Nick glanced to the course and then back to Dwayne. "This course is made for grown-ass men, yes, but it was also made with the five of you in mind." He kept his gaze on the twins. "The workout equipment is for you two. Especially the bench press. I want the course done afterwards." The twins glanced nervously at each other, and his look was focused on Lauren. "Lauren, you get the course. Dwayne: Obstacle course. Rex: Treadmill, bench press, obstacle course."

The orders were given, and Nick was finished. "Are we clear?" he asked, receiving nods from all five.

_**thirty minutes later.**_

Delano had started to try her luck with the obstacle course with Lauren, Rex decided to sit it out, Dwayne was on the treadmill in Rex's place, and Cynthia was bench pressing her personal best (and first), one-hundred and seventy five pounds.

Lauren had decided that to make the whole Ninja Warrior obstacle course more effective, so that she and Delano could start racing—this was put to an end after Delano tripped and fell headfirst into the cement floor, only to get up and claim that she was okay. She was, but Lauren was still worried.

Eventually, they had gotten past the infamous point of tripping and made it onto the actual course, leaping over the hurdles and diving through the hoops as if they were nothing. No one had warned them about the point after the hoops, and how difficult it would be. That part of the course was composed of punching bags chained to the ceiling, in clusters. It was difficult to navigate, considering the moment you hit one, it was as if a rock was whacked into your face.

Meanwhile, Rex was pondering the pros and cons of hulking out in the middle of the training room. And he couldn't just do it, he had to get angry over something first… And even if he did, wouldn't that put his siblings in danger? It would… He was a monster, why wouldn't he? He had been slumped over before, watching Delano trip multiple times and getting a few laughs over that, but now he was leaned back against the wall, looking like a kicked puppy. It definitely didn't help when his…ability…could kill some people.

Cynthia had dropped the bench press, walking over to Dwayne, her face slightly pink. Dwayne glanced at her, pushing a button on the treadmill, and slowed down his pace so he could focus.

"What, loser?" Dwayne said, making sure he didn't fall as he spoke to her.

"Shut up. I'm bored, and I don't feel like bench pressing anymore… Do you…Maybe wanna go explore?"

"Explore? What am I, fourteen?" Dwayne smiled mockingly, and Cynthia raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms and sighing. The silence between them was exchanged with looks, and Dwayne gave in, completely stopping the treadmill.

"Okay, yes. I want to explore. Where? " the other asked excitingly, wiping his face with his shirt.

Cynthia shrugged, having no idea. "Let's not get to ahead of ourselves, I mean, we haven't even really left the room yet!"

The two inched towards the door, not so subtly, sprinted over and checked to see if anyone was coming.

No one was.

_**the storage rooms of S.H.I.E.L.D, otherwise known as the basement.**_

In the midst of their exploring, after finding levels of stairs after stairs, corridors, more doors, and more, the two had stumbled across an interesting section of the building they hadn't expected—the storage rooms. The doors were bare, and the only reason they knew it was storage was because of a sign on the door they had opened to enter the section.

"It's really quiet in here," Dwayne observed, looking around at all the boxes around the place. There were boxes piled outside of a few doors, and even a few files that were just sitting there, but the two hadn't bothered to look through them. Just because they were exploring, didn't mean they had to be looking through _everything_. And besides, those were just papers. They wanted to see the cool stuff the basement had to offer.

"Well, yeah. There's no one down here." Cynthia told Dwayne, sitting on a box and stretching her legs. Dwayne, being the ever-observant teen that he was, tilted his head and said, "The box that you're sitting on says…" He walked a little closer, narrowing his eyes to focus. "_Stark Industries_."

"Huh?" Cynthia stood up, and looked at the box herself. It was a big box, long, too. "Oh, look at that. Guess you're right about something for once." She smirked, looked at the box, and noticed a similar box next to it. And next to that one, another one.

A file sat on the third _Stark Industries_ box, and Dwayne took the liberty of looking through it.

"'Enclosed in the three packages are the suits, the bow, and the quiver you had asked for, along with the arrows. Only took me a few days with Jon's measurements, how about that?'" Dwayne read aloud. "'Exclusively, Tony Stark'."

"Who's that? And did you say Jon? What measurements?" Cynthia asked immediately after Dwayne was finished, kneeling down to pry the first long box open.

"Dunno. Jon's out of my life now," Dwayne shrugged, kneeling down to the second box. "But I want that bow."

A loud crack rang out through the basement, echoing before Dwayne realized that Cynthia had managed to actually open the box, cracking the lid in the process.

The two looked down at the contents of the box in amazement, wondering. The contents of the box were mystifying to them, having never seen anything like it before.

The inside of the box was taken up mostly by just a single suit, which appeared to be made of metal. The color scheme was a crimson red and sparkling gold, the colors complimenting each other. Dwayne reached down, speechless, grabbed the arm of the suit (which was pretty heavy) and looking at the palm of the hand, thinking he saw something. He did.

"Cynthia, look at this suit!" Dwayne whispered, shaking the arm of the suit around, the hand seemingly frozen in place.

"It looks like it's made to defend someone."

"From what?"

"I don't think I ever want to find out. What is that—on the palm?"

Dwayne gazed at it for a moment, and shrugged. He obviously didn't know; it just looked like…A circle thing…

"Should we keep looking?"

"Of course."

Dwayne moved over to the next box, secretly hoping that it contained the bow and arrows that the file had promised. "Open this one," he told Cynthia, and within a matter of seconds, the lid was off, and little cleaner this time. No cracks or anything.

"Whoa," Cynthia breathed, leaning down. "I think I like this box."

Dwayne sighed, disappointed in the fact that the box didn't contain the bow and arrows. He turned away, not expecting to feel this way about a stupid bow. "What's in there?"

The younger of the two reached down into the box, plucked one of the two the red, white, and blue suits and held it up. "Only the coolest suit you'll ever see in your life!" She smiled, admiring the star on the chest. Cynthia noted how it looked like she could fit in it.

Dwayne scoffed, severely doubting the fact and turned, his eyes widening. "Oh. _Oh._ Wow."

"I'm taking these. Delano would love this. Next box," Cynthia declared, taking the other suit and holding the two suits under one arm and moving to the next box.

"The bow and arrows are in this next box," Dwayne mumbled, getting closer as Cynthia opened the box. She threw the lid off to the side, picking up the bow and the quiver filled with arrows. The bow was painted a chrome color, and the lights reflected off the bow. The quiver was painted the same way, but the arrows were painted black. She handed the set to Dwayne. "Merry Christmas."

Dwayne smiled, taking the bow and the quiver. Slinging the quiver across his shoulders, he inspected the bow with gusto, pulling back the bowstring and letting it go.

"Like your new toy?" Cynthia asked, glad to see Dwayne with a smile on his face, which was rare.

"Yes. I love it. I'm taking this. And I'm not giving it back," Dwayne said, lowering the bow and taking a moment to inspect the arrows. "The arrowheads are all different. Nice…," he noted to himself out loud, holding up an arrow with a sharp tip.

"Let's go."

"Fine…"

_**cynthia's room**_

Laurel had managed to land on top of the bed in the room with a grunt, bouncing off and then proceeding to hit the floor with yet another grunt. That grunt, however, was a pained one. She couldn't focus on her injuries at the moment, now—she had a mission. Getting to her knees, she huffed. "Father, you didn't inform me I would land in here!" Laurel hissed, standing. She was clad in leather pants, boots (similar to her Father's) with metal clasps, and a simple green shirt. It was long-sleeved, fit for her, and an embroidered gold 'L' on the left, near her heart. Her dark hair flowed to her waist, a section of it braided across the side of her head. With pale skin, a pair of pale eyes, and her golden diadem, her look was complete.

She was Loki Laufeyson's daughter.

And she definitely looked the part.

Walking across the room to the door, Laurel paused, slightly hesitant and skeptical. Her father had wanted her to retrieve information about S.H.I.E.L.D's newest workers, but she was having doubts about whether she could truly do it or not. If she screwed this up, Father would be very angry at her…

That was no matter. She wouldn't fail. Not this time.

She opened the door, tossing out her fears and striding down the hallway. Black locks flowed behind her, her diadem crowning the top of her head. Laurel had almost forgotten—In a snap, the diadem disappeared, and she was on the move again.

At the end of the hallway, Laurel narrowed her eyes, spying a few men in suits along with some guards.

'_This is the time to make Father happy_,' Laurel thought, sprinting forward down the hall, ignoring the requests to stop. Leaping forward, her foot slammed across one's face. She came down, roundhouse kicking the same one in the stomach. A suited man came at her, and she dodged him, leaping over him and pushing his head into the floor. A guard grabbed her arm, and she whipped around, her foot coming up under the guard's. He fell, Laurel stomping his face in twice, and that was it. The other men she had put down stayed down, but she could hear some mumbling from behind her.

Laurel turned quickly, the first man she had attacked was speaking into his walkie-talkie. She snatched it up, throwing it against the wall and watching it crumble.

She inwardly apologized, walking away from the scene and walking down the hallway even further.

'_So far, Father…Everything is well…' _Laurel thought, sighing shakily. She was trembling, adrenaline rushing through at a slow rate. She was never good at altercations.

After she had been walking for a few minutes, she had noticed more people walking down the hallway. Glaring straight at them, she realized they were just teenagers. Putting her head down, she kept walking until she felt another body collide with her own.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you there-" Dwayne started, before he was interrupted by the girl who was still trying to get up.

"Of course you didn't see me, you incompetent…," Laurel trailed off, actually getting a good look at Dwayne's face. "You…Ah…Boy. You. I apologize, I don't know your name." She said, looking up at Dwayne and, well, admiring his face.

Dwayne looked at Cynthia, who stared at Laurel, who stared at Dwayne.

"Dwayne. Nice to meet you…?" Dwayne leaned in, waiting for the other to say her name.

"Laurel. I am Laurel Laufeyson." Laurel nodded, only then realizing that she was getting off track with this human boy, but it wasn't like she could resist. "I must go now, I have- ah, I have a task." She started walking off, before her walk turning into a full sprint so she wouldn't be distracted by the beautiful boy she just met.

Cynthia turned to look back at Laurel running away, and then to Dwayne. "That was weird."

"Yeah," Dwayne agreed. "Weird. She was pretty, though."

Cynthia shrugged, "Isn't it weird that we haven't seen her before?"

"Yeah,so?"

"I mean, it's just-" Before Cynthia could finish her sentence, a blaring siren attacked her eardrums, echoing through the halls with a message that she didn't bother paying attention, due to the fact that she covering her ears. Dwayne did the same thing.

_**S.H.I.E.L.D intelligence center.**_

Three guards had managed to get Laurel's arms down. It was a good thing Nick got there quickly when Laurel started dropping people.

"Who are you, and why the _hell_ are you here?" Fury asked in an angry tone, the guards not letting up. Laurel didn't care if she was making a scene or not, she needed the information. Even if she was somehow trapped, she could get out if she wanted to. Laurel was Loki's daughter, after all.

Laurel struggled against the powerful arms working against her, almost getting out on occasion. She smirked, raising an eyebrow, skillfully masking her true struggle and emotions: fear, pain, and anger.

"I am Laurel Laufeyson," Nick's eyes widened and he moved forward ever so slightly, the guards tightening their grip on Laurel's arms. "And I shall not humor you with my purpose for being here." Laurel tilted her head, her smirk growing into a full smile.

"As in-" Nick started, until his sentence was interrupted by the commotion on the other side of the huge room, where Delano, Lauren, and Rex had entered, with Dwayne and Cynthia trailing behind them.

All attention was turned to them, and Nick hesitantly focused his gaze on the group, turning. "Do you know this…girl?"

The room was silent, Dwayne and Cynthia wondering if they should answer, and Laurel made her move, jumping even though her arms were held down. Off the ground, a puff of smoke was visible, the color of green clouding up above their head.

She had made a silent and successful escape.

Fury turned back around, getting angrier as he saw that Laurel wasn't there anymore. Thanks to the kids, she had gotten away. In a sense, curiosity killed the cat.

Whipping around, Fury stormed towards the kids with only a few words to say: "You're _all_ in trouble."

He snatched up the suits from Cynthia, with intentions to take Dwayne's bow later as well.

"There will be a briefing later, and you're all invited. For now, get in your rooms and stay there."


	7. In Which Laurel Argues

**Well, you guys. This story is getting enough hits for some people actually review, so do a good deed and review, please. FREE CYBER COOKIES IF YOU DO! –K**

Laurel had been teleported back to her own (her Father's) abode. Once again, she had fallen from a hefty height, Hissing, she scrambled to get up before her father. "Father, you have got to quit with that! I can feel my ribs on the verge of cracking!" Laurel joked, smiling for Loki. She knew she couldn't break bones that easily. Besides, Laurel felt like smiling eased up the atmosphere.

He glared down at her with pale eyes, obviously disappointed. The god had just sent his child on a failed mission, which officially put them (more importantly, her) on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar.

Not that Loki was ever off of it to begin with.

Laurel was silent, waiting for her scolding. Loki, being the '_considerate_' man he is, decided he would start off soft.

"I was watching the entire time. You began so strongly… What happened, my dear?" Loki asked, expecting a completely wrong answer. He had to admit, Laurel had made him proud within the first three minutes of her task. Her task, originally to kill Nick Fury herself, was changed because Loki decided that he wanted the glory of killing that man himself one day.

"I allowed myself to get distracted," Laurel answered after a moment, staring at the floor.

Loki was taken aback with that, surprised by the fact that she had, indeed, given him a correct answer. "Look at me," he requested, walking forward and bending his knees slightly to meet Laurel's gaze. He noticed the look in her eyes (his eyes) was a solemn one, and grimaced.

Laurel looked into her father's eyes, starting to feel her heart pound, but was slightly more comfortable than before with the mood between them.

_Mistake._

"You let your target walk past you."

"What?" Laurel said, her eyes widening.

"Dwayne, he said… And that other one he was with. There were more."

Laurel stepped back, trying to comprehend who the others were, angered. "Damn! Damn them to the fiery depths of Hel!" She cursed, referring to another one of her siblings.

"Careful. She might bring you down there with her." Loki wanted to chuckle, but found he couldn't, because it was all too true.

"I don't understand," Laurel started, turning to look back at Loki, "why you assign me these tasks when you surely know that I fail. _Every single time_."

Loki opened his mouth to speak, but she had beaten him to it, leaving him feeling very frustrated.

"Father, can't you understand? I'm not like you… I can't just go about doing these things like you did-"

"Don't you understand?" He snapped, Laurel standing in her place. "You defiant little quim, you've made the worst mistake you've ever made today!"

Laurel, the defiant little quim, was silent. She felt as if she was shrinking next to her Father's stature. Loki had always been taller than her, which automatically gave him the advantage because he was terrifying (to Laurel) when he wanted to be, like right now. "You put yourself on S.H.I.E.L.D's map! And do you know what that means?" He continued, eyes burning towards his own daughter.

Laurel was quiet, thinking that was a rhetorical question until her Father repeated the question once more.

"Now you can get a reward for turning me in," She sneered. Laurel knew that her Father loved her to a high degree, but sometimes it felt like the exact opposite.

"Perhaps I should," Loki snarled. "When I return to Midgard, you won't be of any assistance to me anyhow," He lied. Laurel returned his icy glare, pondering whether he truly would or not. "You have put yourself in danger," The liar continued, shaking his head, "and you will certainly regret it."

Laurel stepped away, clasping her hands behind her back. "If you didn't send me to do these idiotic tasks, this wouldn't occur, Father!" She snapped loudly, throwing her hands up.

"My dear, _if you did it right_, this would not occur!" Loki countered mockingly, smirking. He had been informed beforehand that she did not have the capacity to be 'like him'.

Laurel became even angrier, frustrated with the fact that her father was right. Hell, he was always right, and that infuriated her. Her only motive was to hurt the prankster in any way possible. She had a variety of options. Insult his heritage as a Jotun, point out the fact that nobody had ever truly loved him, even his own father. Biological and foster, for that matter.

Laurel loved him, though.

"I…" Laurel started, glancing up at her father. The smirk on his face made her lose it. "I hate you." Turning around, she was beginning to walk off before a hand gripped her arm.

"I-" Loki got in before Laurel snapped, "Too late, Father!" She got out of the god's grip before disappearing in a puff of green smoke which smelled faintly of citrus.

Ooh, rising tension between a father and his daughter. See, I have this idea where Loki isn't as cold to everyone else as he is to his daughter. Makes sense? I thought so. Please review.


	8. In Which The Kids Suit Up

**Alright, you guys. This is the big chapter (I think). The kids are gonna have some fun in this chapter. Review after reading, please and thank you.**

_**S.H.I.E.L.D briefing room.**_

"As all of you know, an intruder just came and left," Nick grimaced, pacing around in front of the table. God, he was pissed. "I asked for her name, and she told me. And when I found out, I wanted to go ape shit." He added bluntly, putting his hands down on the table.

"Rumpelstiltskin!" Cynthia blurted out, earning a glare from Nick and a jab in the ribs from Delano.

"Nice try, but no," Fury glared, "It was Laurel Laufeyson."

Everyone exchanged glances with an unamused expression, thinking the same thing: _So?_

Fury shook his head, not wanting to tell the kids about Loki, but it looked like he had to. Loki was a hard man to explain to a pack of children… And now that Loki had a daughter (Nick assumed), it was even harder. "Some years ago, there was a huge threat to S.H.I.E.L.D, and, well, the rest of the world. The threat was a man named Loki, who literally came from myths. He was a god-"

"Oh, yeah. The Norse god of mischief. He's a… joker. Got his mouth sewn by dwarves. His brother held him down, Thor? Ass." Dwayne interrupted with that random bit of information, earning looks from just about everyone, including Nick.

"For your information – Nevermind," Nick continued, sighing. "He was a very huge threat to us. And for that, we needed a group of marvelous individuals. Now that there is… another potential threat, Laurel, we need people to defend against these threats and that's where you all come in. This is the _New Avengers Initiative_."

" '_New Avengers'_?" Delano said, raising an eyebrow at Nick, "What happened to the old-" Cynthia mumbled before Nick cut her off.

"That's not important, on to the next point," Nick turned his gaze to Lauren, and smiled. "We need you to do us a favor."

"What?" Lauren asked, confused. She glanced at Rex and back to the freaky eye patch guy, wondering where this would go.

Nick decided he would just drop the bomb, figuring he couldn't just tip-toe around the issue like a teenage boy would break up with a girl, "To be an effective part of the team, surgery is required."

Lauren was skeptical, furrowing her eyebrows and wondering what the hell she would surgery for. All eyes were on her as she figured out what she should say next. "Why… Surgery on what?"

"We were planning to insert an electromagnet in your chest," Seeing the shocked look on Lauren's face, Nick stopped, holding up a hand, "Now, now, it's not as bad as it sounds. We'll knock you out."

"It's not about that!" Lauren snapped, clenching her fists under table. "Why should I get surgery when they don't have to!" She pointed at the twins, glaring at them. "I shouldn't have to change myself just to be…" She leaned back in her chair, sighing. The whole thought of an electromagnet in her chest scared her, and for some reason, thrilled her at the same time. Lauren hated that.

Rex cleared his throat, ready to speak. It wasn't like he did all the time, but something made him think that people would probably listen. "May I share my opinion…?"

Nick shrugged, "No one's stopping you." Surprisingly, Dwayne was quiet.

"It's her decision, and you can't make her do anything." Rex declared boldly, shrugging and crossing his arms.

"On the contrary, I think we can. She works for S.H.I.E.L.D now, like the rest of you."

"Then why are you asking me!" Lauren asked next to Rex, rubbing her temples.

With that, a plethora of arguments about Lauren's decision started, about whether she should get the surgery or not, about how Lauren could be whatever she wanted to be, even if she wanted to be a lab experiment with an electromagnet. The arguments lasted about thirty minutes, until Fury received a message on his communicator. Something about an emergency in New York City, about huge dogs absolutely destroying the place.

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Nick said loudly, gaining the attention of most of them. A small smirk was on his face, "Now that I've got your attention, it's time to suit up."

_**Roof of S.H.I.E.L.D HQ.**_

All of the kids (except for Lauren) were in the helicopter, with the exception of the twins, who had a hard time with the whole, 'utility belt' thing, getting a few words in to some agents before actually getting into the chopper. Wind beat their hair, which wasn't held by a hood like the original Captain America suits. These suits were tighter, made with synthetic stretch fabric. The design still had that great 'old-fashioned' idea in mind. Stripes on the abdomen, star on the chest, red boots.

Before they were going into the chopper, confused, a few agents had stopped them, handing Cynthia and Delano their shields. The twins looked studied the shields for a split-second, sent each other a nervous glance, and thanked the agents, entering the aircraft. The chopper had started its journey shortly after.

In the chopper, the four of them were given communicators – which just looked like earpieces, but not quite.

"How come you guys get the cool outfits and all I have are combat boots?" Dwayne asked loudly, over the roar of the actual helicopter.

"Because we can!" Cynthia threw her hands up to make a point, and put them back down, chuckling. Dwayne laughed as well, Delano rolling her eyes. "Look at this shield, though," She pointed out, and Cynthia looked at hers, too. "Dwayne, we didn't see these in the basement, or whatever, did we?"

Dwayne shook his head, fiddling with his bow. He was dressed in his regular douchebag name brand denim jeans, combat boots, a gray tank top tucked into his jeans with a belt, and a pair of wrist guards. He figured that in some way, the guards could be used for accuracy, but changed his mind, thinking it was stupid. Plus, his quiver was slung across his back, with his mighty selection of arrows. Sonic, electric, smoke-bomb, electro disrupter, vibranium, explosive… You name it, Dwayne was briefed on it for two minutes before he entered the chopper before the twins.

And for Rex, he had no suit. He didn't exactly need one, but once again, he was afraid to hulk out in public. In front of many innocent citizens. His heart pounded in his chest, and he wondered if he could really get through this without Lauren. They were always together, and when they weren't, it made Rex a little nervous. They were each other's moral support!

The four of them received the same message on their communicators, saying they would be dropped off by a fountain near Central Park, and that was their cue to give each other the cheesiest pep talk ever.

"You guys – Don't let it get to you that we've barely had training, or anything, whatever this is, it's probably just a huge joke." Delano started the talk, tying her hair back with an elastic.

Rex was next, nodding and cracked his knuckles, "We have to stay alert, whatever this whole thing with the dogs is, we can put a muzzle on 'em." A background chuckle was heard from Cynthia, and she was the last one to speak.

"We can do this! It doesn't matter if we haven't had training or not, we just can't be stupid. We need to work together and use our common sense," Cynthia looked around, making eye contact with everyone before continuing, "If we think we can, we can."

_**a fountain near central park.**_

The four had literally been dropped off by the fountain a moment ago, serenaded with the sound of morbid barking and growling. Cynthia could've sworn it was behind her, when there was nothing, and Dwayne could've sworn he heard a growl right next to his ear.

It was in the moment they had been standing there and awkwardly staring at each other that one of those… dogs, if you could even call it that, bounded towards them. "Holy shit, do you guys see that thing?" Dwayne mumbled into his communicator while Delano and Cynthia raised their shields. Rex jogged to the twins' side, and Dwayne kept a strong grip on his bow. They had prepared their nerves for a dog to start eating off their faces, but received a surprise when the dog ran past them and into the fountain, yelping loudly while it started steaming. "Well, that was a bit of a letdown." Rex sighed, watching the dog steam.

"Is it dead?" Cynthia asked, creeping closer. From her angle, she could see the dog perfectly. It was huge, bigger than a great dane (possibly the size of two pairs of the twins), with big, fiery eyes. As it was steaming, its red eyes were still open, staring back at Cynthia and observing her just as she had observed it. Shuddering, she stepped back, and took a deep breath. For now, the hounds weren't bounding towards them. Surprising. The teen figured this was a good time to settle a plan. "Anyways, I have a plan. You guys up for hearing it?"

"No," Dwayne answered quickly, setting up an arrow just in case. Rex and Delano were quiet.

"Too bad," Cynthia smirked. "Listen up. We need to be smart. As big as these things are, they're… pretty dumb. One just committed suicide right in front of us. Keep in mind that doesn't mean that they're not strong," She took a few steps forward, and looked at Dwayne.

"Dwayne, try to stay at a high point, and take them out any way you can. Got it?" Dwayne nodded, "Rex, scope out a high point with Dwayne. When the time is right, you know what to do." Rex responded with a pale face and a grimace, but nodded as well.

"What are you doing? Go! These things aren't gonna kill themselves!" Cynthia laughed, and the two were scrambling off, Rex trying to keep up with Dwayne.

Cynthia turned around, and her smirk grew into a full smile. Delano smiled back. "C'mon, sis. We got work to do."

On that note, they were off, Cynthia saying something in the communicator about making sure they're okay. As they sprinted toward Central Park, Delano mumbled something about how there were probably more in the forest than there were in the actual city, noticing how loud the growling and howling was getting.

"Isn't that what the shields are for?" Cynthia grunted, flinging the patriotic weapon towards a hound, watching it graze its midsection before coming back. She caught it with ease, amazed at her own grace with it. "Delano, finish this one!" She called into the communicator, and Delano's own shield was flung towards the same hound, catching its neck and tearing its head off.

"So that's how you kill it? Seriously?" Delano screeched, the boys responding with pleads to_ please avoid screaming into the communicator_. Following their pleads, they asked how to kill the hounds.

The twins responded by saying: _"Off with their heads!"_,simultaneously.

In the meantime, Dwayne had taken his place in a high tree, Rex on another branch next to him. They had gotten up there by making it to an evacuated skyscraper and making a leap of faith to a high branch, and so now they were just sitting.

"Don't fall!" Rex reminded Dwayne for the millionth time, and Dwayne scoffed. "I won't! I won't! Shush, already!"

Dwayne notched a vibranium arrow and set his sights on a hound that thought it would take out Delano from behind.

_Not today. _

The boy set it loose, the arrow penetrating the dark dog's red eye. He could tell by the way it fell on its side, lifeless, with the arrow awkwardly sticking out of the side of its head. "Got another way!" He excitedly chattered into the communicator, fist pumping. Rex smiled, enjoying Dwayne's arrogance for once.

"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked before grunting again, swinging her shield to successfully knock a hound over, and bringing her shield down to chop its head off, butcher style.

"You just have to injure their heads!"

"I knew it!" Delano exclaimed, bravely slamming a foot into another hound's head and finishing off the move by slamming her shield into it.

_**S.H.I.E.L.D intelligence center.**_

Employees, agents, and officers huddled around multiple plasma screens lined on the walls of the intelligence center. Not to mention Lauren, and Nick, who had gotten front row seats. Apparently, there was news coverage of the team fighting off the dogs at an average rate.

Lauren had reluctantly sat this one out, seeing as she wouldn't be of any assistance to the team without surgery anyways. Mentioning this to Nick as the rest of her family went out to the chopper before they were transported; Lauren had given the man a serious glare.

Now, Lauren was watching live news coverage of her siblings fight off vicious hounds that were bigger than a pair of quarterbacks combined, alongside Nick. In the back of her mind, there was that little voice that kept nagging her, saying that her siblings couldn't fight these things, they had barely trained, they didn't know how to use their weapons properly. She decided to give the nagging feeling a voice.

"I don't think they can do this." Lauren mumbled, glancing at Nick and back at the screen, catching the sight of another arrow skewing a creature's eye. _'Dwayne,'_ She thought_, 'That has to be him.'_

"Are you saying that they'll fail?" Nick replied, crossing his arms and staring at the coverage, his face stoic.

"Not necessarily," She said, raising a hand to idly scratch her cheek, "I'm saying that success will be hard to achieve."

_**a skyscraper not too far from the fighting scene.**_

Loki sat on the edge of a tall building, scepter in (which was very hard to obtain again after he lost it) one hand, or as Tony Stark would call it, his 'little stick of destiny'. In his other hand was his chin as he leaned forward, watching the targets Laurel couldn't identify.

So far, he had identified Dwayne, and the girl he was with. He figured out that the girl had a twin, and wasn't surprised. He was only surprised by her twin's appearance, and how different they were. Red hair, green eyes and blonde hair, blue eyes. He would call the green- eyed twin 'Red', for now, until he learned her name. One idiot in a spangly outfit was enough before, now two?

The prankster noticed another child, with peculiar looking hair, and glasses. He didn't exactly understand that one's purpose, so he paid no mind to him.

As he looked on, Loki watched the twins with their shields. He had to admit, they were quite graceful with the way they teamed up. Perhaps that would become a challenge to him if they weren't so uncoordinated.

His gaze went to the tree not too far below him, and his eyes widened at the fact that Dwayne was laughing. _Laughing_, as he killed the hellhounds. Loki had personally requested those hellhounds from Hel himself! It wasn't as if the task was difficult, or anything like that, but they were_ hellhounds _for the gods' sake!

Loki stood, debating whether or not to use his scepter.

In the end, he decided not to, because some pathetic mortal children in patriotic clothing and generic no-sleeve shirts were not his problem.

At least, not yet.

And with that, he was gone.

_**ground level, central park.**_

"You guys, I'm coming down there!" Dwayne said, looking over at Rex, "It looks like you need some help!" Rex shook his head frantically, trying to grab Dwayne's arm before he dropped down and rolled, notching another arrow as soon as he got back up.

Rex followed, watching a hellhound come dangerously close to Dwayne, and rolled as well, not getting back up as quickly.

When he did, though - It seemed as if hours passed in slow motion, watching a hellhound pounce on Dwayne, just like that. Dwayne hadn't noticed it, because he was busy looking he opposite way as he notched another arrow. It was in that moment, that Rex had seen Dwayne so dangerously close to getting seriously hurt, that he hulked out, with almost no regrets.

_**the next day, breakfast at a café on the corner that wasn't ruined by the horrible onslaught of hellhounds.**_

The twins sat on the side of the table that seated six facing the door, while Rex and Lauren sat on the other side, Dwayne at the head. They were waiting for their slow waitress to come back around and give them their drinks.

A few tables away from them, an agent from S.H.I.E.L.D sat, just in case things got bad.

While they were waiting for their drinks, Rex decided to initiate conversation once, totally out of character. "I think we did well, yesterday."

"I think you guys did, too. You know it was on the news, right?" Lauren asked, playing with a pack of sugar and her spoon.

"It was? How?" Dwayne came into the conversation, tilting his head to the side. When the hellhound pounced on him, he had received a large scratch next to his mouth, which was treated immediately after they arrived back at the headquarters. If they seriously were on television like Lauren said, he was sure people saw his awesome marksmanship. "I bet I looked so cool."

Lauren shrugged, and replied, "I'm not sure, but everyone was watching it in the intelligence center. It was pretty cool, watching you guys do your thing."

Delano stared at Lauren, leaning into her arm on the table. "Hey, by the way, did you ever think about that surgery thing?"

Cynthia, quiet the whole time, dragged her gaze from some young woman's newspaper to Lauren, wanting to know the answer.

Lauren stared at the surface of the table for a while before answering. She was contemplating whether or not her siblings would become angry at her for her answer.

"The surgery is actually scheduled to be in… about a week. They actually have to construct the electromagnet, and then the arc reactor part, and all of this other stuff, and bleh." Lauren answered, looking down at her lap.

Surprisingly, everyone was silent, except for Cynthia.

"You know we accept you for who you are, right?"

That earned a few nervous laughs and Cynthia continued talking, leaning in before she did. "You guys, that lady's newspaper – look at it!" She glanced in the woman's direction, before back at her siblings. "Do you see the headline? Do you! 'Unknown Heroes Save Downtown'. We're almost famous!"

Rex glanced back in the woman's direction to see another girl, two actually, start to approach the table, and it wasn't the waitress.

The ones approaching the table were young adults, a man and a woman. They looked to be related, but Rex didn't want to assume. On the way over, they had been mumbling about something. "You guys," He got his family's attention in time for the strangers to talk.

"Uh, hi. We were watching the news yesterday, and we both work in that building over there," The woman started, craning her neck and pointing to some skyscraper with a name plastered on the side of it. Delano and Cynthia glanced back, following her finger, and then back at the strangers. "And we just want to say thank you. For killing those things. It was phenomenal. Is it okay if we ask you a few questions?" She smiled, nodding at the young man, who pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen.

No one seemed to mind, and Cynthia just spoke for all of them. "No, go ahead. We're not snooty."

The woman laughed, and asked her first question, "Great, how old are you?"

"Delano and I are twins, we're both fourteen. We're the youngest. Rex and Lauren are fifteen, and Dwayne is the oldest. He's sixteen." Cynthia said, pointing at each of them as she went by, smiling.

The woman seemed shocked by their ages, and bit her lip. Rex could tell she was hesitating to say something, but she did it anyways. "Don't take this the wrong way, but it seemed like you two," She gestured towards the twins, "were doing the most work out there."

Dwayne decided he would answer this statement. "Oh no, no. They were. I'm proud."

With that, the woman asked a few more questions, the man chaotically scribbling things down at a quick rate. When she was done, she finally gave her name and the man's name, and they were on their way. That moment, the waitress finally came by with their drinks.

Cynthia smirked, reaching out for her Coke. "So, _now _we're famous?"


	9. In Which Lauren Is Upgraded

_CHAPTER 9,WOO! Totally ready. May be the bum chapter. Might be the slow, worthless chapter. As I'm writing this note before writing the actual chapter, I have no idea. So without further ado, chapter nine, everyone. Sorry for not updating sooner, bleeehhh._

_I don't own the Avengers._

_**about a week ago, tony stark's malibu getaway.**_

The Avengers had met up at one of the philanthropist's abodes, agreeing on the one at Malibu. Considering the Stark Tower was being 'conveniently' renovated with Pepper being there, it was the second option. Tony preferred the view of the ocean accompanied by the palms and the occasional bombshell of a woman compared to the mechanical jungle of taxis and steel skyscrapers.

Gathered around in the living room, the six of them sat, scattered around the room. Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Thor Odinson, Tony Stark, and Steve Rogers. Although they were scattered around the room, the adults were all focused on one thing: the huge television at the front of the living room. Tony naturally kept it on the news channel, but today, he had been presented with a surprise as he saw the headline of the breaking news.

_Hounds Attack New York City, Kids Working On It_.

Steve had been in the same room, but hadn't actually paid any mind to the screen until Tony asked him to. The second he saw the kids, he realized that they belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D, and only had one thing to say.

"New shields, and uniforms? This is ridiculous!"

"The kiddos look good, though. Jon did a good job, huh?" Tony lifted a hand to his chin, leaning against the couch.

It was a good thing the rest of the Avengers were there for a visit, and now, they were all watching the news that contained their kids fighting some dogs in New York.

"Glad Dwayne is kicking some mutt's ass," The archer smirked, glancing at Thor.

"My friend, those are not mere mutts," Thor started, staring intently at the screen as it showed an aerial view of a dog's eye being punctured by an arrow. "Those are Hellhounds- I fought them in Asgard. Once." He explained, unaware of a few stares he was getting.

Natasha, a.k.a Black Widow, was the next one to speak, directing her words towards Bruce.

"Bruce, oh my God," Thor glanced at her briefly, realizing she wasn't addressing him, and then looked back at the screen. Natasha continued, "Look at him… Do you see this?"

The scientist bit his lip, "I can't believe this… My…I can't decide whether this is exceptionally great or exceptionally horrible on his end." He said, taking off his glasses. He was talking about Rex, considering they shared the same genes.

Tony was next with his observation, which was more of an announcement than anything else. "I don't see the armor anywhere, but Nick contacted me a while ago, asking me to construct another arc reactor."

The room was quiet, Tony receiving stares from pretty much everyone. "Tony, you can't – " The soldier out of time started, lifting from his place on the couch.

"What goddamn choice do we have?" Tony asked, "They already have an electromagnet – the procedure would be cleaner than a cave in the Middle East. And I could finish the arc reactor in a day with the equipment I have here!"

_**present day, S.H.I.E.L.D HQ cafeteria.**_

"So, basically, the seeds fly through the air and land on other plants, and that's how plants pretty much reproduce." Rex finished his lecture on asexual reproduction, smiling weirdly and lacing his fingers together.

Cynthia stared at him for a moment, contemplating whether or not to tackle him for boring her so much. She loved Rex, she really did, but not when he talked about boring stuff like evolution, rocks, and atoms. Rex loved that stuff, and she was glad that he was finally opening up to the rest of the family. That was the first stage of opening up. Family first, then the rest of the world.

Delano leaned forward, "_Stop_ talking about plants having sex."

"Thank you!" Dwayne pointed at Delano, pursing his lips. "We need to talk about real life! Seriously, Lauren is having her surgery right now, aren't any of you guys seriously worried?"

The other three glanced at each other, until Cynthia finally said something. "I mean, yeah. But not really. She's a trooper, yanno? We really have nothing to worry about."

"As long as the anesthetics work." Delano snickered.

"Exactly." Rex added, shrugging.

Dwayne shook his head. "Whatever. How do you think she'll be afterwards?"

"Probably super crazy, like, insane. Just kidding. She might be a little tired or something." Cynthia suggested, cracking a knuckle.

_**eight hours later, lauren's room.**_

The girl was woken by the sound of shuffling in the room. Lauren sniffed, and then coughed, the pain in her chest shooting up her neck – or perhaps that was just bile, from the aftermath of the anesthetics. Looking up at the ceiling, and then around the rest of the room, she was on the edge. She thought she had heard shuffling, but there was no one in there.

Lauren heard a quiet, barely audible humming close to her, but she couldn't pin point what it was. She felt around her bed, feeling a wire, maybe a few. She followed them with a shaky finger, discovering one lead into her nose, and another one went into the crook of her elbow. Feeling risky, she pulled on the one leading into her nose, feeling pain at first, but continuing anyways.

'_Where is everyone?'_ She thought while she was pulling, hearing a loud pop as the end of it came out, and she sniffed again, feeling only a little better.

The humming intruded her thoughts, and she coughed yet again, only now noticing a faint blue light from her chest, glowing past her shirt. Dark eyes widened, and her heart skipped beat. A shaky hand pulled her shirt down, stopping just below her collarbone and staring at her chest in horror.

The arc reactor glowed even brighter, and her stomach dropped. Shaking her head, Lauren felt her heart beat faster, and it seemed as if the reactor was even brighter.

"Fuck," She barely mumbled, letting her head drop onto the pillow. "T-This is not what I signed up for."

A knock at the door sounded, and she jumped, almost wanting to puke. Dwayne and Cynthia came in quietly, shuffling in before making eye contact with Lauren.

"Hey," Cynthia started, "How are you feeling?"

"U-Um, kind of horrible, but – "

Dwayne cut straight to the chase, interrupting her and staring at her chest. "_Holy shit_! What did they do to you?" He kneeled, trying to get a better look at it. Lauren felt slightly offended, and slapped Dwayne's hands away, sitting up.

"Go away! Go! Shoo! Now!" Lauren shrieked, watching Dwayne back up.

"Well, that wasn't what we came in here for! We have to show you something, okay?"

Lauren was skeptical, narrowing her eyes and raising a hand to scratch at her eyebrow. "Okay…?"

"Let's go, then." Dwayne nodded, and turned to Lauren. "And get some pants on, by the way."

_**the storage rooms of S.H.I.E.L.D, otherwise known as the basement.**_

Somehow, Lauren had managed to escape the needle in her arm, as well as put on actual clothes without throwing up. Cynthia did say she was a trooper, after all. And now, the three of them were in the basement, Cynthia trying to find the _Stark Industries_ boxes while Dwayne kept Lauren busy.

"Sorry about earlier, but how do you seriously feel?" Dwayne asked, putting a hand on Lauren's shoulder as if that helped in the slightest. Lauren, on the other hand, was trying not to fall asleep, or puke. She grasped the water bottle in her other hand, taking a small sip before answering.

"Oh, y-you know, kind of a cyborg now. No big deal," Lauren sniffed, "Ass."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Cynthia clapped somewhere near them, gaining their attention, "Found it! C'mere, cyborg!" Lauren rolled her eyes, but (slowly) walked over to her with Dwayne, anyways.

The two walked over, Lauren gasping when she saw the armor in the box, and then proceeding to choke on her spit. Of course, this gasp was only prompted because of the sheer shock and love for the pieces of armor in the box that had yet to be assembled. She turned, only choking for a moment, and then turning back around to stare at the contents of the box more. "What is this?" The second oldest asked, her free hand clenching into an excited fist.

"We think it's a suit, made to protect someone, it still needs to actually be made, though." Dwayne explained.

Cynthia bent over, plucking a particular large piece from the box, and holding it up. After a minute of staring at it, she discovered it was the breast plate, and not the part for her back. "You can make it, right, Lauren? You're smart!" She walked forward, pressing the breast plate against Lauren's torso, noticing how it fit perfectly, and how the arc reactor shone through brightly, perfectly.

"I-I guess, I mean, yeah, I probably could but – "

"But what? What's stopping you? Go ask Fury if you can use some lab equipment! I bet, you could probably have it done in like, a week!" Cynthia encouraged, smiling.

'_Sooner_,' Lauren thought, coughing.

_**S.H.I.E.L.D HQ hallway, east wing.**_

In the late hours of the evening, Delano and Rex decided they wanted to go on an adventure. They had been looking for Cynthia, Dwayne, and Lauren and figured they should quit after about a half hour, because they might have been doing something important. On a whim, they both wanted to get a snack from the cafeteria vending machines before bed. Walking there was probably the creepiest part, considering the hallways were dim, and they weren't busy as usual.

"Hey, what do you think of Lauren's surgery?" Rex suddenly asked, practically screaming compared to the silence.

Delano thought while walking, staring down at the passing ground below her feet. "I think it'll be worth it in the end."

"You think so – " Rex said before he was interrupted by a loud clamor at the end of the hall. Upon natural instinct, the two ran towards the noise. Curiosity killed the cat, but not this time.

Delano, ahead of Rex, stopped him when he caught up to her. They had, yet again, came across a dark haired girl. Sharp, dark tendrils of hair were askew in her face as she got up, a little shaky. She almost fell again as she was getting up.

It was Laurel, again.

Her face was clammy, pale – piercing green eyes glared at the two mortals in front of her, and she breathed heavily. In one of her hands was her father's helmet, with the horns of a great creature. The gold finish of it gleamed, reflecting nicely.

Delano was quiet, her face pale as well. Rex was silent. Two socially awkward siblings possibly working against the Daughter of Mischief. Not good.

Laurel stared at them before actually speaking, thinking of something say, remembering she had to sound eloquent even in her state. Tired, angry, scared.

"Who are you?"

The siblings were quiet, staring at the being in front of them with wide eyes, trying to recall the last time they saw her. Two weeks? One week ago?

"Answer… Me…!" Laurel demanded, feeling lightheaded and half-heartedly slamming a fist on the wall. There was no mission this time. At least, not right now. Her father didn't know where she was. Laurel had made sure of that.

"U-Uh! I'm Delano, a-and this is Rex!" The twin whispered, bracing herself in case this girl wanted to do anything stupid.

"I'm Laurel Laufeyson… And I'm here to…" The girl barely finished her sentence as her fist slid off the wall, and she fell forward, her vision blurring and going white as she hit the floor, the golden horned helmet hitting the floor as well, but louder.

"Oh, god, what do we do!" Delano screeched, backing away from the still body. "Calm down! Try and find Fury!" Rex directed, walking closer to the girl, cautiously.

"This is the chick he talked to us about!" Rex told her just as she was about to leave.

_I apologize if this chapter kind of seems all over the place, but trust me, I know what I'm doing! Thanks, and don't forget to review! -K_


	10. In Which Laurel Humors You

**Well,you guys, the story seems like it's actually going somewhere. Awesome. Haha! At this point, you guys have to review! … Right? Also, thanks to colormestupid3.**

**BBY U LITE MAH FYRE.**

**Delano: Stop begging them for reviews, stupid!**

**Dwayne: No, they hate you and they think you're tacky. **

**Rex: …**

**Lauren: Probably.**

**CHAPTER 10,BIZNITCHES. I DON'T OWN THE AVENGERS.**

**By the way, we're on tumblr now! The three of us (me and two betas), are the admins. It's like, behind the scenes for a fanfiction series. YEAUH. Go,follow it if you dare. **

**the-long-run-series**

_**S.H.I.E.L.D HQ, medical wing, room 146**_

Laurel woke with a small cough and a sniffle, her eyes working against her will to say closed – yet, she pushed through. Opening her eyes, they flickered around the room to discover she was surrounded. The kids (except for Lauren), Nick Fury, and a few nurses bustling around.

The girl attempted to lift her hand to scratch at an itch, but only then did she notice that her wrists were restrained, along with her ankles. She was pale, but not as pale as she was the night before. Looking around, slightly panicked, she saw her diadem was on the table beside the bed, and in the crook of her elbow was a needle, which was feeding a black, murky liquid into her vein. Seeing it, she swallowed nervously.

The sound of Fury's voice made her jump, "So we meet again – Laurel, was it? What happened?" Fury smirked, tilting his head. Laurel glared at him, green eyes contrasting greatly against her milky complexion. "Ah, I see. Daddy issues?" He added, nodding. Laurel felt the urge to shove her boot into the man's mouth, but was held back thanks to the restraints on her ankles.

Laurel mumbled something under her breath while turning her breath to look at the wall.

"What was that?" Nick asked, pacing to the other side of the room with Cynthia and Delano.

Laurel got the feeling the man was mocking her quite subtly, and continued glaring at him. Something they were putting in her prevented her from escaping. Now she was truly a trapped animal. Trapped in the confines of these white infirmary walls – but that wasn't the point. Her spell she had tried saying under her breath hadn't worked. Might as well humor the big man on campus.

"You are not my keeper, and I do not have any 'issues' with my father." She said finally, with a sharp breath afterwards.

"Why were you here last night? What was the purpose?" Nick cut in, noticing how Rex and Delano were deliberately staring at Laurel, eagerly waiting for an answer.

Laurel grinned, glancing for a long moment at her diadem on the table to waste time, to think. She twisted her wrist very slowly, hoping the restraint would loosen up, but it didn't.

"Why does a tortoise dive into its shell?"

Rex raised his hand, only to put it down with a disappointed expression when he realized it was a rhetorical question and Laurel shot a piercing glare his way.

"And where is my father's helmet?" She asked, glancing around the room as if it was actually hidden somewhere in there.

Nick raised an eyebrow, "Oh, you want Loki's helmet? Why do you have it in the first place?"

Laurel raised an eyebrow indignantly, "Why is a raven – "

"Stop!" Dwayne blurted out loudly, breaking his streak of silence. "Stop with the metaphors, please. This is not the eighteen-hundreds."

Laurel huffed, staring at the mortal. Not a sight for sore eyes, she supposed. She would let that snide comment slide, he had a… _nice face structure. _The Daughter of Mischief was quiet for a moment, debating whether or not she would explain this to Fury or not. Then again, it wasn't like she always listened to her Father, but she did when it mattered, and that was all that mattered!

"After…After I failed to do what my father asked me that day I arrived here, we had an argument, and…I ran away. I was out for seven days, going through different realms, before I came back again. But when I did, it was to spite him. I stole his helmet," Laurel smirked, remembering her father's face as she disappeared with the helmet in her hands, "I then came here because, frankly, I was very… angry, and exhausted, I wanted to ruin someone's life. The thought never crossed my mind that I would be staying here," She explained, her lazy gaze trained on the wall.

"So, you had a temper tantrum?" Cynthia asked with a bland expression, running a hand through her hair. Cynthia had a bad feeling about this girl, based on the fact that she believed Laurel though she could do anything she wanted, that she was entitled to certain things.

"Fuck you!" Laurel spat without thinking, jolting forward and pulling the restraints with her, yet they did not break, "To Hel with _temper tantrums_! I am Laurel Laufeyson, and I will not allow myself to be degraded by such a pathetic – "

Something sharp stuck her arm, and she paid it no mind until it seemed like her mind was slowing down. Was that puny inoculation supposed to do something? Laurel pulled it out, but went completely unconscious at the shot placed in her cheek before she could react.

Cynthia smirked, proud of not moving an inch during her little temper tantrum. Laughing, she walked to the bedside, "Isn't someone a happy camper?"

_**S.H.I.E.L.D, lab number six, south wing**_

Lauren peeled back the goggles, smiling. Dark eyes stared at the halfway finished creation in front of her. She had been working on it since Dwayne and Cynthia showed it to her. And that had been, what? Ten hours ago?

_Lauren walked the dim hallways, seeing Fury's back and speeding up her pace to catch up with him. She was still getting used to the whole arc reactor chest pains anyways. She figured it would go away sooner or later, anyways. She tapped Nick's shoulder, and he turned, stopping entirely. _

"_I know about the suit," Lauren said, clasping her hands behind her back, partially scared of Nick's reply. _

"_Good," He said, surprising Lauren, "Now what do you want?"_

"_I want -no, I need- to build it. I have this… thing, in me, and now I can help… if you just let me." _

_Nick was quiet for a moment, pulling his hand up to rest his head on his knuckles as he thought. He thought about the lab she could use, the conditions, what she would use. Eventually he summed it up in one answer. _

"_Alright. Get to lab six, and tell Rovin that I gave you permission to request the equipment you need. Got it?" _

_Lauren nodded, wondering what exactly what she would need. It was going to be a long night._

Now she stood, her eyes flickering around the bottom half of the suit. So far, she had gotten the legs finished, all the way up to the midsection. The chest and head would probably be a little more difficult. The girl was proud of herself, deciding she would take a break. She had been working for about ten hours straight anyways, with no sleep. Her only companions during the night had been hard rock music in a soft volume, and energy drinks from vending machines in the cafeteria.

Turning around, she glanced at the door before something glittering caught her eye, and she turned in its direction. A helmet sat on a chair near the door, dropped off by some agent who wanted to get the creepy thing off his hands. _Wrong move_.

The helmet had long,curved horns, and pieces that crept on the jaw. She figured if she put it on, it would cover about half of her face. In between the horns, was a piece of the helmet that jutted into the forehead more. Lauren picked it up, on the sides, and examined it. It was even starting to give her the creeps, and the horns practically touched the wall in front of her. Curious, Lauren wanted to find Fury, ask him about the helmet – what harm would that do?

_**S.H.I.E.L.D HQ, medical wing, room 146**_

"What do we do, she's totally knocked out!" Delano told Nick, tilting her head. In her head, she was debating standing next to the bed and just creepily staring at Laurel just to get a good look at her.

Dwayne looked at Delano, and cleared his throat. "I say we fly her out to an island in the middle of nowhere and _boom_," He smirked, and turned his gaze to Fury, "problem solved."

Fury chuckled, genuinely laughing at Dwayne's stupidity. "It's not that easy, son."

Cynthia glared at the sleeping body of Laurel, hating the fact that she was anywhere near any of them. Why was Laurel really even here? She was suspicious! Cynthia was young, but she wasn't stupid! She was a blonde, what did they want? Geez. "I don't like her."

Nick cocked an eyebrow, "You're not supposed to like her, she's… I wouldn't say evil. I would rather say an accessory to the bad guy."

"That's sad," Rex said a moment later, breaking the awkward silence. "What if she doesn't want to be an accessory?"

In that moment, Lauren had knocked on the door and walked in slowly, hesitating because she wasn't sure what was going on. She had heard her siblings voices, yes, but that could've been anything. Well, maybe not, but whatever. She held the helmet behind her back subtly, but the helmet was obvious. The curved horns stuck out behind her.

Before she could say anything, Nick walked up to her and held out his hand expectantly, Lauren handing over the helmet with a guilty expression. "Why do you have this?"

"I was just going to ask you the same thing, Mr. Fury." Lauren answered, and glanced at Laurel. "Who's that?" She asked, not recalling the whole incident in the intelligence center before asking.

"That's Laurel Laufeyson," Nick replied to her, holding the helmet with both hands, "and she is an accessory."

Nick raised a finger to the communicator in his ear, and furrowed his eyebrows. The kids noticed, and watched as a shocked expression came across his face.

At that moment, the alarm they had heard a few weeks ago went off.

"There's another problem," Nick had to raise the volume of his voice to be heard over the alarm, "Loki has taken employees hostage on the Freedom Weekly building – and he's got company."

**Yes,yes. Freedom Weekly. Cheesy. I know. SHURSH. **

**Don't forget to review, and follow our tumblr. **

**I know the biznitches love tumblr. -K**


	11. In Which Jotuns Get A Wake Up Call

**Well, CHAPTER 11. Once again, the tumblr link. Delete the spaces in between the link,broskis. **

** the- long- run- series. tumblr **

**Once again, thanks to colormestupid3. Don't forget to review.**

_**freedom weekly building, front doors.**_

Once again, the kids had suited up. With the same lineup as the first mission, they were ready, eager to help the citizens and get the hostages out, and nothing more. They were disappointed that Lauren hadn't finished her latest project, and that mixed with nerves created an unsettling atmosphere. That's where Cynthia's pep talk had come in.

"You guys, just like last time, we got this! If we, y'know, change up the battle plan a little, we totally got this! Remember! Teamwork! Hope! And, uh – "

"Cynthia, take a look around you, okay?" Delano interrupted, nudging Cynthia's arm with her own shield, and prompting her to take a look around. As she took a look around, so did everyone else.

Cynthia noticed the streets looked fine, with the exception of the occasional man trying to reach from whatever it was that was chasing him. Turning around, she saw that the doors of the Freedom Weekly building were frozen over, covered with at least three layers of ice.

'_What…?_' The fourteen year old thought, and looked back at her sibling.

"This is the building from after our first mission… Those reporters work here, remember?" Rex observed, looking up at the building itself, as if he could see the hostages through the windows. It made him sick to think that nice people were being treated with disrespect somewhere in there.

Out of the corner of Dwayne's eye, he thought he saw some movement, and slowly raised his hand to grasp his bow. Keeping quiet, he barely listened as the other members of the team conversed about something that was probably relevant to what they were doing.

Until Delano screamed his name and his communicator was buzzing in his ear.

As fast as lightning, he notched an arrow as an ugly, freezing blue man tackled him – followed by a couple more. Before Dwayne could shoot an arrow of any kind, Rex's nerves caught up with his brain, and he felt heat cover his palms, his back, and then his whole body. As his vision turned white, the green monster within him emerged.

The twins' jaws dropped, yet they stood in their place as the green hulking version of Rex attacked the giants clumsily.

Rex pulled the giant who attacked Dwayne first off of him, and _threw it on the ground_ with ease. He grabbed the arm of another one, and waved that giant in the air for what seemed like no reason at all, but nonetheless, threw that one to the ground as well.

The last blue giant had gotten the hint, and tried fighting back before failing and being grabbed by the leg.

"Stupid giant," Rex growled before repeatedly smashing it to the ground and tossing it to the pile with the rest of the giants.

As Rex moved toward the pile of giants, Dwayne got up, picking up his bow and dusting himself off. "Again? Are you serious? God dammit…" He mumbled under his breath while no one paid attention.

Rex got to the pile of beaten giants, picking one up, he threw it at the frozen doors, and it made a slight dent. The second giant he threw only opened the doors partially. The third giant opened them all the way, the doors bursting open with a slam, and Rex was gone, through the doors, doing whatever the hell he was doing.

"Okay, well," Cynthia shrugged, feeling a bit awkward. She put a hand on her hip and, holding her patriotic shield with her other hand. "Does anyone have any ideas what these things are?" She laughed, not really expecting an answer.

She was answered with an awkward silence.

"Alright, anyways," She glanced around, checking to see if any other things would attack Dwayne before going on, "Dwayne, go with Rex, and kill those things, okay? Secure the perimeter. If you find the hostages, let us know over the communicators." With that, Dwayne rain in the same entrance as Rex.

Smirking, Cynthia turned to Delano, who had the same expression on her face.

"Let's fuck shit up and bond, yeah?" Cynthia asked, and Delano laughed loudly in the middle of the barren street.

With a high-five, the twins bounded inside, dodging the frost giants and making it to the stair door before any of the giants could touch them.

_**S.H.I.E.L.D HQ, medical wing, room 146**_

The rookie tried focusing his eyes on the painting on the other side of the room, instead of the sad, restrained, little girl he had to babysit. Of course babysitting would be his first job at S.H.I.E.L.D…

The painting was a pretty one, filled with different strokes in different directions. The primary colors contrasted greatly with the complimentary shades, which made them so… _complimentary_? The rookie wasn't sure, he never really was great at art critique.

His train of thought was interrupted by a sniffle from the girl, and he turned his head to look. Green eyes stared into somewhat brighter green eyes, and Laurel sniffled again.

The rookie glanced off to the side, planning on not letting himself be subjected to this kind of torture of watching a little girl cry. He hadn't gotten that much information before he was told to babysit, but what he was told was enough to let him know that this kid was no ordinary kid.

"Sir," Laurel choked, getting his attention yet again, "I need you to help me," She sniffled. Time to put on a show.

The rookie stared, standing up and walking towards the bed, "Yes? Are you hungry or something? We don't have a huge selection, but I'm sure there's something you would like – "

"No, I need you to take this out, I hate needles," Laurel falsely admitted. Honestly, she didn't really mind needles. They were possibly the smallest thing on her list of worries, and that list was a very long one.

The rookie hesitated, and stood where he was, not moving an inch. Laurel hadn't convinced him enough yet. "You don't understand! I can't be here! My father will find me!" She whispered, forcing some tears. "I'm not supposed to be here, and-and – "

"Okay, okay, fine, fine." The rookie rolled his eyes, hating when children just blatantly whined like that. He didn't even know what the needle in her arm was for anyways. Reaching forward, he pulled out the needle, quickly, but gingerly.

Laurel watched with observing eyes, and only then did her true intentions come out.

It would take a minute for the liquid they were pumping in before to stop working, so she decided to make the most of it. "Thank you, good sir," She said, and glanced around the room. Her eyes caught on Loki's helmet, wondering how that got in there. Someone must've left it there by accident, if anything. "One more thing?"

The rookie raised an eyebrow, genuinely wondering what this child was thinking. "Yes, your highness?"

"I need that helmet."

The man turned around, seeing it, and picking it up when he walked over to it.

"I need you to place it upon my head." Laurel instructed, eyeing the helmet in the man's hands, despising the way he manhandled the thing, the way he was getting his grubby fingerprints all over it.

The man did as he was told, wondering why he was doing it in the first place, gently sliding it on her head and stepping back.

"And now, I would like to thank you for your cooperation," Laurel put on her signature smirk, clearing her throat and watching the rookie's expression drop, "and for being a complete and utter idiot."

On that note, she was gone in a puff of smoke, and the rookie coughed. With a face palm, the rookie sighed deeply, "I'm so fucking fired."

_**freedom weekly building, eighth floor. **_

"Delano!" Cynthia called, slamming a shield in another giant's face, and punching him back.

"What?" The other answered, launching her shield at a giant's midsection and watching it knock the giant back before Cynthia continued the conversation.

"Go up to the next floors, I'll take it from here!"

"Are you serious!"

"Yes, Dwayne said he found the hostages, so once I finish here I'm going to them! We have to clear this building out anyways, so just go already!"

Delano made her escape by slamming the frost giants out of the way, and getting to the stairs. She skipped a few floors, not really seeing any activity, and figured she would just go straight to the roof to find Loki, considering Fury said he was here but they hadn't seen him yet.

**Well, that's that chapter. Kind of short, but whatever. What's gonna happen, Delano is heading up to the roof by herself! GASP! Will Lauren show up soon? GASP! HOW ARE DWAYNE AND REX DOING! GAAAAASP. **

**Don't worry, I left a lot of questions unanswered for a reason. **

**By the way, there is a poll on my profile about which character is your favorite! The character with the most votes gets their own sidestory! **


	12. In Which Tragedy Strikes

**Okay guys, since tumblr is being a bitch, I'll put the link in my profile. If you haven't voted in the favorite character poll, do it now, otherwise bleh. Thanks for reading this far, I appreciate it. From this chapter, there's only one or two chapters left in the story, but don't worry, there's a sequel. I'm trying to get this story done before I leave for July 4****th**** vacation. **

** : / / the - long – run – series . tumblr **

**Anyways, read and review please. **

_**S.H.I.E.L.D, lab number six, south wing.**_

Lauren put on the goggles, sitting down and examining the last arm to attach to the rest of the suit. Picking it up, it was almost like a glove, so she put her right hand in it, using her left hand to get it on. Stray wires extended from the bottom, looking for somewhere to hook up to. Staring the wires' jacks, she looked back down at the arc reactor in her chest, her dark eyes widening it realization. "Oh," she mumbled to herself, sticking her arm in her shirt a little and finding the hole in the reactor that fit the jack, and plugging it in. Suddenly, she felt a burst of energy rush through her head, and even more realization hit her square in the face.

_She could use the arc reactor as a source of power for the suit._

Standing up, she raised her arm, aiming the palm repulsor at the wall in front of her. She wasn't sure if she should expect anything, but she had inferred that the repulsor –

Within another moment, the palm repulsor had burst with a beam of light, hitting the wall and creating a hole through it. So much so, that she accidentally made a hole through about two of the walls ahead of the original one. "Sorry!" Lauren called, "Didn't really see that coming!" She added, genuinely not caring. Instead of caring, her head was filled to the brim with excitement.

Pulling off the goggles, and the jack from the reactor, she felt as though she could literally do anything. Practically ripping off the arm and grabbing a pair of pliers and walking over to the finished suit. Just a few more minutes and this baby would be ready for take-off.

_**freedom weekly rooftop.**_

Delano took a deep breath, closing her eyes before she actually got to the roof, wondering how all of this would turn out anyways. It seemed as if everyone was doing okay anyways, so what made this little adventure any different? Cynthia, with her confidence, was fighting off those ice giants as if they were balloons ready to pop. Rex was doing the same, yet in a form they all feared. Dwayne simply picked them off one by one with those explosive arrows. They hadn't gotten a recent word on Lauren, though. Hopefully she was finished with her whole suit project, now… Even if she was, what would she do, anyways?

The teen shook her head, opening her eyes and sighing. These negative thoughts wouldn't do to well if they settled for too long.

In a moment of slight bravery, she set her hand on the doorknob to the roof firmly and opened it, raising her shield just in case anything decided to attack her. Instead, she was greeted with silence and a bright blue sky. Walking forward slowly, Delano felt a little regretful, but stayed silent.

Thinking she saw a flash of dark hair, she turned to the side, but jumped when she heard a voice from her other side.

"A lone soldier, come to deal the damage I deserve, I suppose?" The god asked, his face adorned with a shit-smirk and condescending eyes. Loki was always one to condescend, anyways.

In that strange moment of silence, Delano took in his appearance. A leather jacket with accents of green and black, and strap across his chest that had a single, thin, gold plate across his chest. He had the same boots as Laurel, and the same features as Laurel, and Delano understood. It was as if the god of mischief had nothing to wear but leather, everywhere. The thing that interested her the most was the helmet and the spear he was holding – the very same helmet with the curved horns that Laurel had the other day, but she had definitely never seen the spear before. She vaguely remembered the briefing about Laurel and Loki, and tried recalling as her face became blank and her body took its natural defensive stance.

"Ah, I see – the strong, silent type. Unlike my little Laurel here." Loki tossed a glance toward his daughter behind him, who looked like she wasn't glad to be there. Delano smiled at Laurel, still wanting to be polite even though her main goal had nothing to do with being polite. Loki's expression dropped as he realized that Delano still wasn't talking.

His boots clacked against the cement roof as he walked forward, his empty hand swinging by his side and his spear banging against the roof as well with every step he took. Staring into Delano's eyes as she nervously took a step back, the prankster decided to start babbling again.

"You are a lone ranger," he repeated, trying to get that point across for the second time, "you are always taken for granted, ignored – overshadowed by your sister, it's okay," Loki's smirk grew into a chuckle, "so am I. I understand your pain, dear – and I can help you deal revenge out."

Delano shook her head, not believing a word of the weirdo's crap. "No! I don't want revenge! I want you dead!" She snapped, loud even by her standards. She thrust her shield forward, but Loki was close enough to catch her arm and lean in, intimidating and burdened with glorious purpose.

"Those are quite strong words for a shadow," The god of mischief grinned maniacally, as Delano tried getting out of his grip. She succeeded for a second, almost having enough time to jump back, until the tip of Loki's spear pressed down on the area below her collarbone, where her heart was.

"But you have heart." Loki muttered as Delano shuddered, her eyes glazing over as the whole iris, pupil, everything turned a ghostly, pale blue. Dropping her shield, it clattered on the cement as she stood at attention, raising her head.

Laurel, watching the entire time, furrowed her eyebrows and felt her stomach drop a bit as she saw her father use his spear to its full purpose.

A moment passed, but it seemed like an eternity before Cynthia burst through the door to the roof, her eyes landing automatically on Delano and striding forward, acting like she hadn't noticed Loki at all.

"Delano! Didn't you hear me through your communicator? Dwayne and I got the hostages out, it's time to go!"

Delano turned her head but said nothing as Loki raised an eyebrow, an evil smirk on his face as he had the best idea he had had on this rooftop so far.

"Kill her," He muttered, and walked away as if he had said nothing in the first place to join Laurel.

That was Delano's cue to pick up her shield and watch as Cynthia's expression turned to one of sheer fright, mixed with anger and topped off with confusion.

"What?" That was all Cynthia had time to say before Delano slugged Cynthia in the jaw and knocked her back a few feet.

"Delano! No!" Cynthia shouted, dodging another slugger and throwing one her way, in the eye. Delano was silent, responding with a shield slamming into the other's face.

"Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" The blonde assured as she scooted back, Delano standing over her and smirking terribly.

Laurel watched in horror, her eyes widening as she dashed forward, disappearing for a split-second and then reappearing next to the possessed twin in time to tackle Delano and stop her from throwing down her shield in an attempt to kill her own sister. That was an ability she used called _phasewalk_.

Delano threw the mini trickster off as if she was feather light and kicked in the stomach, slamming her foot down into Laurel's ribcage.

Loki only watched with interest, tilting his head and leaning against the opposite edge of the building.

The fight continued on the other hand, Laurel being thrown off of Delano but bouncing back with a round of raw energy emerging from her hands and slapping Delano in the face, throwing both of them back. Cynthia got back up, dusting off her knee and watching in disbelief as the enemy (or so she thought) defended her from her sister.

"Laurel! Stop! She's _my_ sister!" Cynthia cried loudly, cupping her hand on one side of her mouth to project her voice. Laurel, distracted by Cynthia's voice, ended up getting forced back so she fell on the cement face first, down for the count. "Shit!" The blonde cursed as well. A faint chuckle could be heard from Loki's end. Cynthia fought the urge to launch her shield at Loki, but went towards Delano instead, her priority being to stop Delano from killing her right now.

"Delano! Listen to me!" Cynthia caught her sister's fist, but Delano responded with a slug to Cynthia's eye. The blonde winced, but continued trying to reason with her. "Stop! This is all Loki right now, and you don't know what you're doing!" She cried, pushing Delano back towards the edge as she pushed her shield into Delano's, who pushed back, but not enough.

Cynthia looked up into her sister's eyes, unbelieving that the same person who helped her with her homework was now trying to kill her, that the same artificial green eyes were now replaced with the empty blue ones that definitely did not remind her of herself. "Delano, please!" She screeched, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks. "I love you, please, dear god, stop!"

Delano raised her arm, launching her shield towards Cynthia, who was quick enough to dodge it with the reflexes she had. After that, it seemed as if everything was opera music and slow motion.

Cynthia had dodged the shield, yet it kept flying past her head to certain point – and after that certain point, it had decided to come back, and Cynthia kept her head down, not thinking of the consequences that would follow.

The shield had come back, and hit Delano square in the forehead, tipping her over the edge just enough for her to lose her footing and begin her descent towards the ground about twenty or so floors below her.

Cynthia stared at the empty space in front of her, her eyes bursting with tears as she took the running start to leap off the edge as well, ready to risk her life in an attempt to save her sister.

Life goes by fast, Cynthia heard once. She was too naïve to believe it, though. She had known her sister for literally her whole life, and now she practically stared death straight in the face, realizing she would most likely die if Delano did – it wasn't suicide if she had the intent to save someone in the first place, and she already had no regrets.

She knew that sheer look of regret and terror and that horrified look Delano had in her artificial, yet beautiful green eyes as her body impacted the ground would be implanted, stuck inside Cynthia's fucking mind until the end of time. Just as she was about to join her sister in the palm of Death's hand, her fingertip grazed the ground next to her sister, something caught her, and she caught a glimpse of crimson and gold.

"Cynthia, calm down – " Lauren's voice could be heard very faintly in her ear through the communicator.

"Let me go!" Cynthia repeated over and over again frantically, trying to push away from Lauren in the suit she had finished, trying to get away from her literal female knight in shining armor. "Delano," Cynthia whispered, "Delano," a little louder, "Delano!" even louder, "Delano! No! Goddamn you!" The lone twin screamed, wrestling out of Lauren's mechanical grip as she flew farther and farther away from Delano's body.

Falling to the ground from a low height was no problem, Cynthia knew, but rolling was the hard part as she did it anyways. As she was sprinting towards her twin's still body, Lauren was requesting S.H.I.E.L.D immediately for medical assistance, and flying after her when she reached Delano.

The rest was a blur afterwards, Dwayne and an almost naked Rex scrambling out when they heard the news, Cynthia passing out simply from shock and mixture of emotions, S.H.I.E.L.D picking them up, the fastest ride ever, a mob of doctors and nurses bustling in the medical wing, trying so desperately to save Delano.

It just wasn't happening.

On the bright side, Lauren had finally finished the suit.

On the bad side, Cynthia's life was ruined, they hadn't officially finished the mission, and Loki was still on the loose, along with Laurel.

**cynthia 's room, a few hours later, approximately eleven o' clock at night. **

Cynthia had woken up an hour ago. She had spent an hour staring up at the ceiling, her eyes refusing to stop shedding tears _for the love of god_. In between fits of screaming into her pillow, more tears, sniffling, and more staring up at the ceiling, she figured she should actually think about something other than how miserable her life was now, realizing she didn't have her twin anymore.

A moment later, she realized she couldn't, and continued crying in the darkness, thinking even more about Delano before.

Delano's favorite food was pizza. Her favorite subject was math. She always a wanted to get a cat and name it 'Hufflepuff' for no good reason. Her favorite color was blue. Her favorite soda was Coca-Cola. Delano's worst subject was science (which Cynthia always thought was weird, since she was good at math). Their best memory together had been a long time ago, but it wasn't like that mattered anymore.

Delano Clein was gone. Finished. Picked off the field. Down for the count, for good. Pushing daisies.

It was Cynthia Howard against the world.

Apparently someone had knocked on the door, and come in, but Cynthia hadn't noticed. She was too busy trying not to suffocate herself with her pillow.

"Cynthia?"

The girl didn't lift her head, respond, anything. Just laid there, still as a rock, her breaths uneven and shallow. Her body was still racked with sobs and shudders like it had been when she tried making Delano wake up again.

"Cynthia… Sit up…"

She didn't.

No response meant the visitor would need to prop her up by themself.

Being propped up was an odd feeling, Cynthia thought blankly as she identified her brave visitor's face as Dwayne Ulthor.

"Cynthia…Cindy…Hey, listen to me."

Cynthia responded with a light sniffle, and a cough, pulling her knees up to her chest. She was still wearing her suit.

"It's okay to be sad. It's okay to feel like this, okay? It was hard coming down here… Just to let you know. I…um," Dwayne put a trembling hand on the back of his neck. "I wanted to apologize."

"…."

"I wanted to apologize earlier… But I never got the opportunity. So. I'm sorry for being… an asshole. I'm sorry for being the worst big brother ever. I'm sorry I got angry that one day… With the bat…" Dwayne sighed, the sigh coming out more of a sob. "I'm apologizing to you, for Delano. And I just wanted to let you know," Dwayne paused, hesitating for a moment about his words, "That you two were always my favorites," Cynthia lifted her head at this, her mouth slightly open, and her brows furrowed.

"And I love you guys."

Cynthia reached forward slowly, pulling Dwayne into a hug.

They sobbed together for a while, not letting go of each other. The company was nice, and Cynthia thought that Dwayne was better at things like this then he let on. Not that he got a lot of oppurtunities in the first place.

"I love you, too."

**And noooooooooow you guys hate me! I know. **

**Leave reviews, dear god, please, I need it.**


	13. In Which The Story Ends For Now

**Here we go. Last chapter until the sequel. Hopefully I get this chapter done tomorrow and while I'm on vacation, I can work out the mechanics of the sequel, new characters, and all that stuff. For all of those who read to the very end, thank you very much. I appreciate it.**

**Review, please.**

_**graveyard, funeral, undisclosed location. **_

A small crowd stood around the pastor, and the hole in the ground. The coffin was closed at the moment, but earlier, Cynthia had seen her sister before it was shut. For some reason, they had put Delano in her team suit. The shield was nowhere to be found. Perhaps that was still at _Freedom Weekly_. Cynthia stared ahead at her sister's body before they bolted the coffin shut, and thought, _'Now people will remember her exactly as she was. It wasn't like I was going to forget anyways.' _Now, she was standing amidst the crowd, in the front, along with Jon, Dwayne, Lauren, and Rex. They all wore black.

Rex, with black dress pants, dress shoes, a white button up shirt, and a black vest. Dwayne, with a simple, black suit. Jon was the same. Lauren had a dress on, and so did Cynthia.

The atmosphere was solemn, pained. The coffin was adorned with the prettiest of roses, red and white. Within the robust roses, the forget-me-nots sat, finishing off the coffin's beautiful red, white and blue arrangement.

Somehow, Cynthia still couldn't believe that her sister was actually dead. After she had been pronounced dead, everything – she figured she could still hope for the best, because honestly, what else did she have to lose after this? She wondered if Delano was actually alive in that coffin, waiting for the perfect moment to come out with the big secret, and explain how she did it all, faked her death and whatnot.

In the back of Cynthia's mind, she knew that wouldn't happen. She ended up feeling the familiar heat prick the back of her eyes, tears threatening to spill, until the pastor asked if anyone would like to speak for Delano. A few glances were tossed her way, and Cynthia composed herself with a moment to spare, and made her way up to the podium.

For another moment, everything was quiet, as Cynthia thought of what to say. Her family knew she was the one to say something about it, even if she didn't want to. Her voice was the most powerful, after all.

"Delano was my best friend," Cynthia started, staring out into the crowd, focusing on a few faces in particular. Her family. "She was my battle buddy, and even better, my sister. I know if Delano was here right now, she would want me to speak, but she would want me to stress one thing in particular," Cynthia took a deep breath, clearing her throat, "She would want me to say that we cannot give up because of this one obstacle. It's big obstacle, yes, but it won't be the only one for as long as we live. And if we can't have Delano back, if we couldn't protect her," A proud smirk washed on her face without her realizing it, "We'll avenge her."

_**funeral reception, undisclosed location. **_

Cynthia leaned against the wall, nibbling on a finger sandwich or whatever she had picked up from the huge table on the other side of the room. The reception was nice, her family had found others to talk to, so that left Cynthia with a few moments of her own time. Good thing, too, she was beginning to think that she was going crazy with all this 'moral support'. Not that she didn't appreciate it, but they just weren't very good at it. Staring into space, she stood, thinking a little more.

Again, that same dreaded thought had intruded her mind, '_Delano is dead._' Over and over again, would it ever stop? It was an end to another chapter, but the beginning to another – Cynthia's. Delano's time was over, and Cynthia hated the fact that it was simply too soon. On the opposite wall, a pair of bright green eyes watched the scene with Nick and Cynthia, the young trickster feeling remorseful that she couldn't do anything more to prevent the young soldier's sister's death. Her father would pay, Laurel swore to it as she snaked through the reception, wondering when someone would notice her presence.

Cynthia dropped her sandwich, and crouched down to pick it up, and when she stood up again, Nick Fury was standing in front.

"Oh, um – Hi, Nick."

"How are you feeling?" Nick asked, glancing around.

He was answered with a scowl and a glare combined, and decided to just continue. "We have some people we would like you to meet, Cynthia."

"_We_?" Cynthia furrowed her eyebrows, "Who are you talking about, Nick?"

"You'll see soon enough."

**Kind of a butthole way to end the story, but the sequel should be up in a few weeks, so stay on the watch for that… Not really sure what to call it yet, but…? Yeah. Leave a review if you can, thank you for reading. I also apologize for this chapter being soooo amazingly short. **


	14. The Sequel

Hiya! If you just finished the Long Run, or you're still, y'know, following this story – it's over! Or, well, this particular story is. But now, the sequel is out for those of you who didn't know. It's called **Bad Before Good**. Feel free to check it out!


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